Former Maoist shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Gaya, probe on

Police said Rambilas Manjhi had allegedly killed a man of Hari-Bigha village and grabbed his farmland.

Former Maoist Rambilas Manjhi was gunned down by unidentified men at Jamuawan Hari Bigha village under Wazirganj police station area in Gaya district of Bihar late Friday night. The police recovered the body early Saturday morning.

Representational image.

Police said Manjhi, a native of Damri Bigha village, had allegedly killed a man of Hari-Bigha village and grabbed his farmland. Manjhi’s body was found on the same agricultural land, police said.

Upon receiving information about the incident, the police arrived at the spot on Saturday with a forensics team and dog squad to investigate the crime scene.

Locals, however, alleged that the terror of the rival faction could be gauged from the fact that the police didn’t visit the spot and assigned the task of lifting the body to the village guard. “The police didn’t visit the spot for investigation and sent the body to the Magadh medical hospital in Gaya for postmortem,” a police officer said.

Wazirganj SHO Venkatesh Ojha didn’t rule out the involvement of a rival group of the CPI(Maoist) in the killing. “It could also be the handiwork of some local criminals operating in the garb of Maoists,” he said.

“Preliminary investigation suggests that Manjhi was earlier involved in Maoist related violence and faced charges of murder and arms act cases. An SIT has been constituted under the leadership of Wazirganj SDPO to probe the case,” Gaya SSP Anand Kumar said, adding that the deceased also led a team of robbers.