Jan. 4: An MLA of Bihar’s ruling BJP was on Tuesday stabbed to death in public by a lady school principal who had levelled charges of rape against him last year. The incident shocked the state, prompting the Chief Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, to suggest frisking of people visiting MLAs henceforth.
Raj Kishore Kesri, 51, an MLA from Purnea in eastern Bihar, was fatally attacked with a butcher’s knife by Rupam Pathak, 37, principal of Rajhans Public School, when he was meeting people at his house at Sipahitola area in Purnea town at about 9 am. Pathak hid the knife, said to be over 15 inches long, under her shawl and shoved it into the MLA’s left abdomen while speaking to him in a crowd of about 150 people. A profusely bleeding Kesri was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead at 10.10 am due to deep abdominal injuries.
The MLA’s bodyguards instantly grabbed Pathak and beat her up, drawing blood from the face and the knee, before handing her over to the police. She was rushed to Katihar Medical College. Initially, she refused to believe the MLA was dead.
Pathak, who has been living separately in Purnea from her Assam-based businessman husband and children for over 10 years, had alleged in April 2010 that Kesri and his assistant Vipin Rai had raped her.
Sources said the slain BJP legislator and the woman knew each other well. “The MLA had inaugurated her school and was chief guest at its annual function. He had also got a road leading to the school built,” said BJP sources.