Bihar: Main accused in Haibaspur massacre arrested after 17 years

Patna: Bihar Police on Friday arrested the main accused of the Haibaspur massacre case in which 10 persons belonging to Scheduled Castes were killed 17 years ago. [caption id=“attachment_1656321” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj said Sardar Lakshman Singh was arrested when he visited his ancestral village Kab under Rani Talab police station in Patna district. Singh, who was the area commander of the banned Ranvir Sena, was arrested by a special team set up for the purpose. “Singh was arrested with the help of scientific investigation and technical surveillance techniques used by our team. He had fled from Bihar after the massacre, and was living in Kolkata, Delhi, Varanasi and other places by hiding his identity. He had come to his village recently,” he said. The SSP said Singh confessed about his involvement in the massacre and the Ranvir Sena’s slain chief Brahmeshwar Singh ‘Mukhiya’ had guided him in conducting it. Ranvir Sena was a private milita of the upper caste landlords. “Singh informed his interrogators that the reason of the massacre was to establish his organisation’s supremacy in the area and also because the killed persons were thought to be naxal supporters who had killed his men,” added Maharaj. The massacre at Haibaspur took place on March 23, 1997 when Ranvir Sena men surrounded the village and shot dead 10 Scheduled Caste persons. The killers also wrote the name of their organization on the wall of a well with the blood of the deceased. The police had arrested 35 persons and some others had surrendered. However, the main accused, Sardar Lakshman Singh, had been absconding all these years. PTI