Patna, March 1: Police are on a wait-and-watch mode in the St Xavier’s, Saharsa, case as its director is yet to come out of hospital.

Director P.P. Albert could not be questioned with the Sadar hospital not releasing him till late this evening.

On Friday, Albert, whose meteoric rise has been attributed to alleged malpractices in land dealings, involved many students and school staff to save himself from a group of men, led by Sudhir Singh, who had started to vandalise a plot of land near the school premises. Albert is reported to be constructing a cold storage for his brother-in-law on the 25-cottah land.

Manish Kumar (30), a school staff, succumbed to the injuries sustained by an arrow.

Surya Kant Choubey, SHO, Saharsa Sadar police station, said: “Albert, Sudhir and another person identified as Ram Bahadur Singh were business partners earlier. All of them were into the land business. The police have got information that Albert had started humbly but soon turned very rich, mainly because of his land deals and other malpractices. The police want to iterate that the problem, which took place on Friday, was not related to the school. The 25 cottah of land led to a conflict between him and Sudhir.”

“With the construction work on, Sudhir and his men had gone there to stop the work. With Sudhir seeing a large group of students running towards him, his men started to attack them with bows and arrows. Sudhir’s younger brother, Mukesh Singh, got injured too and he had been referred to Patna Medical College and Hospital in a very critical condition. The four students who were injured with arrows are safe and out of danger. However, one of them, hit by two arrows on his back and right waist, is still in the hospital here,” Choubey added.

Till now, three persons, including Sudhir and Albert’s son, have been arrested and sent to jail.

“Albert was also injured in the incident though his injuries are not of grievous nature. He has been admitted to the Sadar hospital at present and the police are keeping a close eye on him. He will be questioned thoroughly and sent to jail for sure,” Choubey said.

“Both the parties have lodged FIRs against each other and the police are making further investigations into the case. It has been stated that Albert’s son fired two shots too from Albert’s licensed double-barrel ri- fle. However, none of the injured has bullet injuries,” he added.