Nawada: A day after 21 houses were set on fire in Bihar’s Nawada district, a top state government official on Thursday said 15 people have been arrested in this connection.
Preliminary investigations indicate that a land dispute may have triggered the incident, which took place in Manjhi Tola within the Mufassil police station area on Wednesday evening, the police said.
Nawada District Magistrate Ashutosh Kumar Verma said: “The district police have arrested 15 people for allegedly torching the houses. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to investigate further, and searches are ongoing to apprehend the remaining suspects.”
Verma said approximately 21 houses, some of which were semi-pucca, were burned by a group in Manjhi Tola. He added that senior administrative and police officials on-site will provide a report detailing the exact number of damaged houses. “We are providing relief materials, including food packets and drinking water, to those displaced. Temporary tents have been set up for the victims,” he noted. The DM refuted claims that cattle were charred. “No evidence has been found to support that,” he said.
Following the incident, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar condemned the torching of 34 houses, mostly belonging to SC/ST communities, in Nawada.
“The CM stressed that those who take the law into their hands must be caught and punished. He directed all district magistrates and superintendents of police across the state to ensure that the rule of law prevails,” a senior CMO official said.
The horrific acts of burning down the houses also opened the door for opposition parties to take on the NDA government, with the Congress asserting that it is another proof of “jungle raj” prevailing in the state. Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said: “Burning down the entire Mahadalit colony in Nawada and destroying the houses of more than 80 families is exposing the horrifying picture of injustice against
the Bahujans in Bihar.”
Meanwhile, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav claimed that there was “no law and order in Bihar and the CM had failed”. “Jitan Ram Manjhi is completely misled and he is trying to mislead the people of the country. Law and order has collapsed completely in the state,” Yadav said.