Bihar BJP leader dies ‘following lathi charge’

Security personnel baton charge a BJP supporter during the BJP’s Vidhan Sabha march in support of agitations against the state government’s teacher recruitment policy in Patna on Thursday. Pic/PTI

A BJP leader in Bihar on Thursday died while taking part in a ‘Vidhan Sabha march' against the state's Nitish Kumar government, evoking allegations from senior party leaders that he was ‘killed in a brutal lathi charge'.

The party's Jehanabad district general secretary Vijay Singh was brought unconscious to the Patna Medical College and Hospital where he died, PMCH Superintendent Dr I S Thakur said. Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, a former state BJP president, told reporters that the death of Vijay Singh during the protest march was a "sacrificial offering".

"Besides, thousands of BJP workers have been injured, some of them seriously, while lending their voice to the state's students and youngsters. The injured include many women and members of Parliament and the state legislature", alleged Rai, who represents the Ujiyarpur Lok Sabha seat.

Officials were tight-lipped about the cause of the death of Singh, who was said to be in his 40s, though the district administration in Patna gave a brief statement asserting "no injury marks" were found on his body. The statement claimed Singh was found "in an unconscious state on the roadside in Chhajju Bagh locality" from where he was taken to PMCH. "He was admitted to the ICU but died during treatment," the PMCH superintendent said. The cause of death could not be ascertained till post-mortem examination is conducted, another PMCH official said.

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