NEW DELHI, 6 June 2004 — Unidentified gunmen shot dead 10 people during a night raid on a brick kiln in Dinar village in Bihar’s Nalanda district.
Superintendent of Nalanda police Amit Lodha told Arab News a group of 12 heavily armed people stormed Pankaj brick kiln in the village late Friday night and sprayed bullets, killing the owner and nine laborers, mostly Dalits, and injuring nearly a dozen others. The injured were taken to Nalanda Sadar hospital, he said.
The owner of the brick kiln, Kamata Prasad, and eight laborers were killed on the spot while the ninth worker died on the way to hospital.
A dispute over running of the brick kiln was said to be behind the attack.
The proprietor of an adjoining brick kiln has been taken into custody and charges have been filed with police.
Senior officials camped at the scene while a manhunt continued around the area.
Railway Minister and RJD leader Lalu Prasad after visiting the crime scene said the incident was the result of “enmity between two brick kiln owners”. He told the district administration to bring the culprits to book as soon as possible.
Talking to reporters in Patna earlier, Lalu would not be drawn on whether he will retain his Chapra Lok Sabha seat but said his ministry was keen to implement a number of projects for the development of the constituency.
Lalu won elections in both Madhepura and Chapra seats, defeating his nearest BJP rival and former Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy by a margin of over 60,000 votes in Chapra. “Please don’t pressurize and leave it to me to decide which seat I should retain,” he said.
