New Delhi: A high alert has been sounded across Bihar following the murder of Ranvir Sena chief Brahmeshwar Singh on Friday morning. Eight companies of police personnel have been deployed and curfew was clamped in Arrah to control the law and order where Singh’s supporters clashed with police, and damaged public and private property while protesting against the murder. The curfew was lifted in the afternoon after the situation was brought under control.

Singh, who allegedly masterminded several massacres in central Bihar during the 1990s, was accosted allegedly by six gunmen who were armed with sophisticated weapons. The gunmen pumped several bullets into Singh, killing him on the spot at Katira Mohalla under Nawada police station of Bhojpur district, 71 kms from Patna.

As soon as the news of his killing spread, thousands of his supporters gathered, shouting anti-government slogans and then attacked government building including the residence of the District Judge, the circuit house and the railway station. Railways have diverted trains passing through Arrah as a precautionary measure.

Even though the small contingent of police personnel including the Superintendent of Police tried to control the mob, but they were vastly outnumbered. The protesters clashed with the police and then set many vehicles on fire.

Additional police force from Patna, Buxar and Rohtas have been rushed to Bhojpur along with personnel of the Bihar Military Police to maintain law and order, according to Additional Director General (Law and Order) SK Bhardwaj.

Senior police officials including Bihar Director General of Police (DGP) Abhay Anand rushed to Arrah to take a stock of the situation and monitor the law and order situation. At one place angry protesters heckled the DGP and charged him with failure to provide security to Singh, forcing him to leave the area. A forensic team also accompanied the DGP to look for clues. The police finally managed to take Singh’s body away for autopsy only at around 2 PM.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has appealed for peace even as his bitter rival and Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) while adding that Singh’s murder should not be politicised.

Blaming Nitish Kumar for the “rising crime graph” in the state, Lalu also commented that there was no law and order in Bihar. “Ranvir Sena Chief Mukhiaji is not a small name amongst the farmers of Bihar. The people in the area and across the state are very upset,” said Lalu while demanding that Nitish should visit the murder site.

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi also appealed for clam and said that the accused would face severe punishment. “The incident was unfortunate. I ask the people to maintain peace. Police are investigating and the accused would be punished. These incidents should not happen. The way this incident happened was unfortunate. It is a matter which should be investigated. The DGP is present at the site,” said Modi.

The state government is aware that if the accused are not apprehended soon the situation defused, the situation could spiral out of control and lead to a revival of the caste wars.

Singh’s Ranvir Sena, though defunct now, represented the landlords of central Bihar and their targets inevitably used to be landless lower castes, who are supported by the Maoists. His killing could give his supporters an excuse to revive the militia.

Singh had set up his dreaded outfit in the mid-1990s when caste armies, professing to protect rights of different groups, had sprung up all over Bihar. Apart from Laxmanpur-Bathe, the Sena also allegedly organised massacres at Mianpur and Bathani Tola.

According to the police, the Sena was allegedly involved in as many as 29 massacres between 1995 and 2000 and remained the most formidable adversary of the ultra-Left extremist groups as well as the state police.

Singh, who held a political science post-graduate degree from Patna University, was arrested in Patna in 2002, and with that a decline in the number of caste armies ensued. He had been on bail in the last of the 22 cases against him.

In April, 2011, a Bihar court had sentenced 16 persons to death and awarded life imprisonment to 10 others in the Laxmanpur-Bathe case.

But Singh, who was one of the accused, escaped punishment as he was declared an absconder, though he was lodged in Arrah Jail in connection with other cases.