Mannipur (Sheikhpura), May 21: The death of 16 villagers within three days and a 50-km radius may have forced Nitish Kumar to concede that the police system in Bihar may have collapsed. But the wails of chest-beating women here indicated the arid Sheikhpura-Nawada-Nalanda belt continues to wince in the grip of a caste-driven gang war.

Saurabh was four years old, Suraj six, Bittu seven and Shintu 10. They are dead ? bullets pumped into them from a hand’s distance last night. So are Shintu’s mother Poonam Devi, 28, Dharmendra, 18, and Narendra Prasad, 40. The killers also hit three-year-old Sushma but she is alive.

Their only fault: they belonged to the extremely backward Chaurasia caste, some of whose men were suspected to be sympathisers of the Randhir Mahto Soni gang, which had challenged the one led by the notorious Ashok Mahto. Both are absconding. “Beware you Chaurasia men, if we cannot kill you today, we are finishing off your families. We will definitely come back,” an elderly villager recalled the killers as shouting.

Three days ago, nine backward caste persons were killed by upper caste men in adjoining Gowachak.

Today’s carnage was “bizarre” because the killers as well as the victims belonged to the backward castes. But then, Soni’s proximity to the gang led by Akhilesh Singh, a Bhumihar criminal, is no secret here. To further complicate matters, Soni and Askok Mahto, both Kurmis, were comrades till recently when they fell out in a struggle for influence.

The massacre, villagers said, looked like retaliation for the murder of four young shooters of the Ashok Mahto gang in the village on May 4, among whom was Satish Chaurasia of Mannipur. “The link is clear. The four were not killed without some villager leaking information to the Soni gang. Ashok Mahto suspected some Chaurasias did it and he took revenge last night,” said another villager.

After the murder of the four shooters, police had been deployed in the village. Some villagers alleged the in-charge of the police outpost connived with the Ashok Mahto gang. “I saw him sitting in a jeep near the village but he never intervened even though the killers were here for at least two hours,” said a villager.

His charge looks credible because the chief minister, who announced compensation after visiting the village, later suspended the police sub-inspector, pending a probe into the charge of connivance.

Nitish transferred the deputy inspector-general of police (Munger range) as well as the Sheikhpura district magistrate and police superintendent. He ordered a probe against the local deputy superintendent and inspector.

“This is a criminal act and has no connection with caste violence. The criminals will not be spared,” he said.