Dancer, male colleague shot at

ARA: A woman dancer from Odisha and her male singer colleague were shot at and injured early Wednesday morning when they were returning to their place of stay after a performance in a village in Bhojpur district of Bihar, police said.

Both have been taken to a hospital in Patna for treatment.

The victims were identified as 23-year-old Ninu Behra from Bhubneshwar and 27-year-old Mukesh Yadav from Bahrampur village in Patna district.

According to Behra, she and her colleague, along with their musical group, had gone to Salempur for a performance at the house of Apura panchayat committee member Nitu Kumari on the occasion of her four-year- old son Aryan Kumar. At the venue, a few people who seemed drunk climbed on to the state and wanted to dance with her, but she refused. When they were returning, Behra and Yadav were shot at.

Upon being informed, the hosts came to the spot and rushed the victims to Ara district hospital from where they were referred to Patna.

Ranveer Sao, husband of Nitu Kumari, said the musical program was over at 2 am and he asked the performers to stay there, but they said they would return to nearby Sandesh, where they were staying.

Deepak Kumar Jha, station house officer (SHO) of Sandesh police station, said five persons have been arrested in the case.