Anand ST Das By

Express News Service

PATNA: Sixteen people, including a local RJD leader, were arrested and eight policemen placed under suspension in Bihar's Bhojpur district on Tuesday, after a woman was thrashed and paraded naked by a mob which suspected her role in a murder.

Armed policemen patrolled Bihiya town, about 60 km from Patna, even as raids were conducted to arrest the men who had dragged the middle-aged woman from her house, ripped off her clothes and paraded her naked on the roads on Monday afternoon. The woman was kicked and slapped as she was made to walk nearly a kilometre through a local market.

The SHOs of the Bihiya police station and the GRP police station are among the eight suspended policemen, said ADG (headquarters) SK Singhal.

Trouble started after Vimalesh Sah, 19, was found dead near railway tracks on Monday morning. A resident of the nearby Damodarpur village, Sah had left home for a vocational training centre at Ara.

Despite locals alerting the police, there was no action till afternoon as the Bihiya police station and the GRP police station quarrelled about jurisdiction.

Soon, rumours circulated about the role of women from a red-light area near the railway tracks in Sah’s death. The mob, allegedly led by local RJD leader Kaushal Kishore Yadav, then set afire a number of shops and damaged vehicles. Several trains, including the Secunderabad-Patna Express, were pelted with stones. An FIR lodged by the police stated that nearly 300 people were involved in the mob frenzy.

Bhojpur Superintendent of Police Avakash Kumar said autopsy confirmed that Sah was murdered. Meanwhile, sources said Sah’s 14-year-old sister died of shock within minutes after hearing his death.

The parading of the woman sparked outrage and prompted the Opposition RJD, the Congress, the HAM and the Left parties to attack the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government over the worsening law and order situation. Later, former Chief Minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha president Jitan Ram Manjhi demanded imposition of President’s rule in the eastern state.