In the second murder of a politician in Jharkhand in two months, a leader of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) led by formed chief minister Babulal Marandi was gunned down in broad daylight on Monday.
Amil Hussain, the Opposition JVM(P)’s minority committee president in the southern Seraikela-Kharswan district, was shot at by motorcycle-borne assailants as he was having a cup of tea at a roadside shop near his house in Baliguma. He died on the spot. The assailants, who the police described as criminals, fled immediately after shooting and throwing bombs that exploded.
Hussain’s nephew Akhtar Hussain said four gun-toting criminals had come on two motorcycles and took aim at the leader. “They seem to have come to kill him. They took aim at him as he sipped tea,” he said. One man who received minor injuries in the shooting is receiving medical treatment. Several JVM(P) leaders, including Jamshedpur MP Ajay Kumar, met Hussain’s relatives and offered condolence.
Three bombs and seven live cartridges were recovered at the murder site and the police arrested two criminals suspected of having a role in Hussain’s murder. Seraikela-Kharswan SP Upendra Kumar said old enmity appeared to be behind this murder. The slain politician had come out of jail on bail a few days ago in a case of the murder of a criminal in Banka, he said.
On December 7, Opposition Congress leader and prominent coal trader Suresh Singh was shot dead in Dhanbad in the middle of a wedding ceremony.
This murder is said to be the result of a long-running political rivalry between Singh and Jharia MLA Kunti Singh. On Monday, a notice by the NHRC to the Jharkhand government on illegal mining, Maoist violence and exploitation of tribals described Dhanbad district as a “hotbed of gangs”.