One more held in Saran lynching case

PATNA: Police on Saturday arrested one more person in connection with the lynching of three people at Pihtauri Nayatola village under the Baniapur police station area in Saran district on Friday.
Saran SP Harkishore Rai said the arrested person was identified as Rajkumar Ram. “Police have so far arrested eight people in connection with the case. Three more villagers involved in the lynching have been identified and raids are on to arrest them,” the SP said.
Three people – Raju Nat (35), Viresh Nat (30) and Naushad Qureshi (40) – were lynched when they were trying to flee after allegedly stealing a buffalo and three goats from the village.While the buffalo belonged to one Bhikhari Ram, the goats belonged to one Rajbali Ram. The trio had reached the village in a pickup van.
The SP said in course of investigation, it surfaced that the three had stolen cattle from the village and its surrounding areas in the past also. He, however, added that the villagers had never lodged any complaint against the three. “Security personnel have been deployed in the village to avoid any untoward incident,” the SP said.
Two FIRs had been lodged in connection with the incident on Friday. While one FIR was lodged against the deceased trio by Bhikhari’s brother Buddh Ram, another FIR was lodged against eight named and several unknown people by relatives of the victims.