Six hurt in shootout at Mau district hospital

VARANASI: Three heavily armed miscreants opened fire at Mau district hospital, injuring six persons, including patients and attendants, late on Wednesday night. A seriously injured person, Raj Kumar Singh, was referred to Varanasi for treatment. Two station officers Virendra Tiwari of Sarai Lakhansi and Raji Pratap Singh of Kotwali have been suspended for negligence while the police have arrested six persons in this connection.
According to reports, three miscreants went to the hospital around midnight and opened indiscriminate fire targeting Raj Kumar admitted at the Emergency Ward. He sustained several bullet injuries while four others including Suraj Singh, Surendra Singh, Parasnath and Sudershan Prasad were also injuried.
Mau SP Ashok Kumar Shukla told TOI over phone that six persons were arrested in this connection and two police officials were suspended for negligence in duty.
The SP said that the incident was the fallout of gram panchayat election rivalry. Raj Kumar, resident of Baglipija villege in Sarai Lakhansi area, lost to Urmila Singh in gram pradhan election. Using RTI Act he exposed some irregularities in the MGNREGA works after which the gram pradhan was suspended. On July 7, the men of gram pradhan allegedly beat him up and he was admitted to the district hospital.
The police swung into action after the incident and arrested Sunil Kumar Yadav, Sanjay Kumar Yadav, Rajvijay Yadav, Tribhuvan Singh, Amit Singh and one more person.