Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt ( third from left) with the relatives of the victims of the Forbesganj firing incident, at Scada Business Centre in Patna on Friday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, June 10: Hatkan Ansari was offering prayers when he saw police beating up his son Mustafa Ansari. Hatkan lost his consciousness. When he regained his senses, his son was dead.

Anhad, a Delhi-based non-government organisation (NGO), organised a news conference today to release its fact-finding report of the Forbesganj firing incident of June 3. The NGO prepared its report based on interviews of the victims injured in the incident and the kin of the deceased.

The conference organised at the Scada Business Centre was attended by a group of social activists, kin of the deceased and the injured victims of the incident. Film director Mahesh Bhatt was also present.

“I was offering my prayers when I heard gunshots. When I came out, I found the police beating villagers. I suddenly found my son being beaten up after which I lost consciousness. When I regained my senses, he was dead,” Hatkan said, as his voice choked.

The victims could not control their emotions when footage of the firing was shown.

Shabnam Hashmi of Anhad said: “When I went to Forbesganj what I saw was quite similar to what happened in Gujarat in 2002 and I hoped such a thing did not happen in Bihar. The government is only interested in earning money. They are not at all bothered about the people. Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi went to the village and suspended only one police officer but even he is still on duty.”.

She said the issue could have been brought under control by lathicharge or firing tear shells. She said the victims of the incident have not been given any compensation yet.

Bhatt said: “As filmmakers, we visualise certain things but when we come across such incidents, we feel shocked. I will speak to the government officials and the chief minister and I hope he listens to the problems.”

The people of Bhajanpura village opposed granting of a piece of land to Auro Sundaram International Company, which was supposed to set up a factory to manufacture starch from maize. The company had built a wall blocking a road against the villagers’ wish. When the villagers protested against the move, the police allegedly fired at them without any warning.