Bagaha/Patna, June 24: Unconfirmed rumours over the body of a missing youth touched off a wave of violence in a village in West Champaran district that culminated in the death of at least six persons when police fired on a mob that was protesting against the delay in administrative action to locate the man.

Seven persons sustained bullet injuries in the firing at Mahuawa Kataharia village under Naurangia police station of Bagaha, a police district around 260km northwest of Patna.

Sources said the police opened fire to disperse an unruly mob that was pelting stones on the force. Around 25 policemen were injured.

The sources said the residents of the village were enraged since morning upon hearing of the recovery of the body of one 25-year-old youth Chandraeshwar Kazi, who belongs to the local Tharu tribe. The son of one Ram Narayan Kazi, Chandraeshwar had gone missing on June 14, the local people said.

The police reached the spot, but didn’t find any body.

This enraged the locals, who started pelting stones at the police team and forced it to retreat. A bigger contingent of the police was despatched to the spot, but this only added to the fire.

The angry residents, whose numbers had swollen by now, engaged in heavy stone-pelting.

At least 25 police personnel, including an officer of the rank of deputy superintendent of police (whose name could not be confirmed till the time of filing of this report), were wounded in the attack.

This prompted the police to open fire, leading to the death of six persons.

Additional director-general of police (law and order) S.K. Bhardwaj, however, had a different version to offer. He claimed that Chandraeshwar, who used to rent out light and sound systems for marriage ceremonies, went missing late on Sunday night when two persons took him away on a motorbike.

“The man’s father lodged an FIR on Sunday night. The police acted quickly and arrested two suspects. The man, however, was not recovered. When the rumour of the recovery of a body spread today, the local villagers demanded that the arrested persons be handed over to them. The police refused to do so, which prompted them to attack,” Bhardwaj said.

Local sources rebutted the claims of the police and insisted that the youth had gone missing on June 14. They said his father Ram Narayan lodged the FIR yesterday when his son did not return even after a week.

Confirming the incident, Bagaha superintendent of police Sunil Kumar said the police have registered a fresh case on the missing man. Those injured in the police firing were being treated at the Bagaha hospital, he added. The police, he said, had fired 15-16 rounds on the mob.

Bagaha sub-divisional magistrate Animesh Parashar confirmed the number of deaths and injured persons.

West Champaran was known for rampant kidnappings in the Lalu-Rabri era when the Jungle Party hold sway in the region. In Nitish Kumar’s tenure, cases of abductions have gone down in the region.

Declaring Bagaha as a police district was one of the major steps taken by the Nitish government to reduce crime in the region.

The issue has given the BJP, now the chief Opposition party in the state, a stick to beat the government with.

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav condemned the police firing and said the truth would be dug out. “A BJP team led by our senior leader Sushil Kumar Modi would visit Bagaha on Tuesday and interact with local villagers to dig out the truth behind the incident,” he said.

The JD(U) appeared concerned. “We are collecting details of the incident and would take a stand on this after going through the details,” JD (U) state president Bashishtha Narayan Singh said.

Singh said the government should act according to rules as lives have been lost. “The matter cannot be taken lightly,” he said.