Police outposts were torched, vehicles targeted and traffic blocked as the funeral procession of slain Ranvir Sena chief Brahmeswar Singh from Ara to the state capital turned violent on Saturday.
An uneasy calm prevailed in Bhojpur district, where Singh, alias “Mukhiyaji”, the dreaded private militia of “upper caste” landowners, was gunned down on Friday by six unidentified gunmen at Katira, 71 km from Patna, while he was on a morning walk.
The police patrolling was intensified in Ara town where curfew was clamped after incidents of violence.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has appealed for calm and said investigations were underway to trace the killers.
The state was put on a high-alert since the killing and director-general of the police Abhayanand and senior police officials met here on Saturday morning and reviewed the situation.
Several police outposts were burnt, police and private vehicles were damaged and the usually busy Bailey Road was blocked for several hours.
Sena supporters, who turned up in a large number of vehicles including motorcycles, stopped at Bihta, Danapur and Saguna More throwing vehicular traffic out of gear. They also blocked roads on Saturday at Bhagalpur and at several places between Ara and Patna.
Bihar BJP president C.P. Thakur and a few BJP MLAs went to Bihta to pay floral tributes to Singh and participated in the funeral procession at some places along the route.
At one stage, Mr Thakur was pulled out of his vehicle and some in the procession pelted stones at his car. A DIG-rank officer has been entrusted with the task of probing the Ranvir Sena chief’s killing and submit report within a month. Violence continued even when the funeral procession reached Bansghat crematorium.