RTI activist shot dead in Bihar’s Champaran: Police

THE ACTIVIST EXPOSED ILLEGAL ENCROACHMENT ON 8 ACRES OF LAND WORTH CRORES IN HARSHIDIH AREA

BETTIAH: An RTI activist, who exposed several cases of land encroachment, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Bihar’s East Champaran district on Friday, officials said.

The assailants fired multiple rounds at the activist, Vipin Agrawal, 46, from a close range near Harshidih while he was returning home from the local block office, officials said.

“Locals saw him lying in a pool of blood on the road. He was rushed to primary health centre (PHC) and was referred to the Sadar Hospital in Motihari where he was declared brought dead,” Harshidih police station house officer (SHO) Pramod Paswan said. “We are conducting raids to arrest the accused.”

“A special investigation team has been formed under SDPO Areraj to probe the matter and arrest the assailants,” Navin

Chand Jha, East Champaran superintendent of police, said.

The Areraj (35km west from Motihari, headquarters of East Champaran district) subdivisional police officer (SDPO), Abhinav Dhuman, said, “The RTI activist sustained four bullet injuries. We are looking at all angles.”

Agrawal, who was working as an RTI activist since 2009,was attacked last year as well and had approached the police seeking protection, his father, Vijay Agrawal, said.

“Miscreants attacked and ransacked our house on February 16, 2020. His wife was dragged on the road in broad daylight,” Vijay Agrawal said. No arrests were made in the case, he said.

“He had sued many people in this regard, but no one was arrested. We applied for protection several times, to no avail,” he added.

Jha said, “Will see if he had sought protection.”

Vipin exposed illegal encroachment on eight acres of land worth crores in the Harshidih area, his father said. “He fought a long battle to remove land encroachment in and around Harshidih area.”

“In the 2020, a house situated on encroached land in Dhankhariya near Harshidih was demolished by the administration. Later, a case was filed with the Lokayukta in Patna, a petrol pump operating on encroached land was also sealed. Cases were also filed over a cold storage and residential house built on the encroached land,” he said.