The deadly combination of the Maoists’ plans to derail Bihar’s Assembly polls and the alleged neglect by the state police brought violent death to seven innocent schoolchildren and a man in Aurangabad district on Sunday morning when a cylinder bomb left unattended went off. A dozen people were injured.
The powerful bomb, suspected to have been planted by the Left-wing rebels during the sixth and final phase of the polls on Saturday, was discovered by policemen on Saturday in the Maoist-affected district. After failing to defuse the bomb, the police left it unattended in a field near Pachokhar village under the Deo police station. Schoolchildren on their way to attend tuition classes at about 7 am came in contact with the live bomb that policemen had carelessly placed in a field by covering it with sandbags. The children and a man died on the spot.
The saddened villagers turned angry when administration officials accompanied by policemen reached the village four hours after the tragedy. The villagers initially refused to hand over the bodies for autopsy. Palpable public anger in the area prompted the Magadh range inspector general of police to camp near the village to control tensions.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar also expressed shock over the incident and swiftly ordered a probe. He also announced payment of `1 lakh to each dead person’s next kin. The SHOs of Deo and Dhimra police stations were placed under suspension for neglect in duty. The probe team, comprising development commissioner K.C. Saha and DGP (home guards) U.S. Dutt, would submit its report on Monday, said DGP Neelmani.
Manju Devi, mother of an injured child hospitalised in Gaya, said: “The ear-splitting noise of the blast shook the whole village. It was extremely callous on part of the policemen to leave a live bomb near the village.”
Even though Aurangabad SP Vivek Raj Singh said two chowkidars were deployed in the night to guard the bomb till it was defused, the local MP Sushil Kumar Singh said: “The bomb was left in the village by the cops precisely to get the villagers killed. The police claim of deploying two chowkidars to attend to the bomb is a lie because a chowkidar’s son has been killed”.