Teacher shot dead inside Bihar school

PATNA: Three motorcycle-borne men gunned down a teacher at a government school in Vaishali on Monday in the presence of several students.

Police said the accused entered LN High School in Bhagwanpur on a two-wheeler early morning.

They shot down the victim, 35-year-old Sanskrit teacher Radhesh Ranjan, and then fled.

The incident sparked angry protests by local residents, who blocked national highway-77 with the teacher’s body.

They dispersed only after Hajipur assistant superintendent of police Ajoy Kumar arrived at the scene and promised prompt action.

Kumar said Ranjan, a resident of Bahlolpur village, had survived a similar attempt on his life when he was posted at Paunihassanpur high school a couple of years ago.

Senior officers at the police headquarters in Patna held a high-level meeting after the incident.

Tirhut inspector general of police Sunil Kumar said efforts were on to arrest the culprits at the earliest. “The deceased’s family suspects the involvement of two people in the murder. We will pick them up once the FIR is lodged,” said Vaishali superintendent of police MS Dhillon.

A video shot by a local resident on his mobile phone seemed to show some teenagers in school uniform chasing the assailants shortly after the attack. It is yet to be verified by the authorities.

Shakti Singh Yadav, MLA and Rashtriya Janata Dal spokesperson, asserted that the law-and-order machinery in the state had collapsed under the Nitish Kumar government. “There is no fear of the police among criminals. The government has lost control over the state,” he said.

Dr Niska Sinha, a psychiatrist at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, said children who witness such violent incidents can get emotionally scarred. “Besides post-traumatic stress, the murder of teachers — whom kids idolise — can affect their mental growth adversely. They may start suffering from panic attacks, disturbed sleep and even slip into depression,” she added.