In a ghastly incident that has sent shock waves across Bihar, former state minister Mukesh Sahni's 70-year-old father was found stabbed to death at his native home in Darbhanga district, a top police officer said.
According to Jitendra Singh Gangwar, ADG (Headquarters), two persons have been taken into custody for questioning, on the basis of CCTV footage obtained from cameras installed in the vicinity of the site of the crime.
"They were found moving in a suspicious manner. However, the case is being investigated from all possible angles," said Gangwar, who did not divulge the identity of the detainees.
He added, "An STF team has been sent to Darbhanga to assist the local police in the probe. Forensic experts and dog squad have also been pressed into service."
The items on the radar include 'the liquid in three glasses' found inside the room where the body of the deceased was spotted by neighbours, with blood spattered all over.
The ADG said the body, which had deep wounds caused by a sharp-edged object on the chest and abdomen, has been sent for post mortem.
"Prima facie, the deceased was attacked late in the night. An almirah that used to be in the room, has been found outside. We are examining its contents. We are also trying to trace the owners of three motorcycles parked nearby," said Gangwar.
A former Bollywood technician who heads a fledgling outfit Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP), Sahni was away in Mumbai when the information reached him, party sources said.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, in whose cabinet he had served for about a year-and-a-half, called him up to offer condolences and ensure speedy investigation.
Upon arriving in Patna, on way to Darbhanga, Sahni told reporters at the airport that he was also telephoned by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav.
"All have expressed solidarity in this hour of tragedy," said the 44-year-old leader, who did not respond to questions as to whether he suspected any motive behind the murder.
Meanwhile, a political blame game has followed the tragedy befalling the VIP supremo, who has, in a political career spanning barely half-a-decade, aligned with parties on both sides of the ideological divide.
The Nishad community leader, who goes by the evocative sobriquet 'son of Mallah', was won over into the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) by Tejashwi Yadav, who gave his party seats from the RJD's own quota in the recent Lok Sabha polls, besides ensuing that Sahni accompanied him at over 250 rallies across the state.
Yadav, who is the leader of the opposition in state assembly, came out with a statement lambasting National Democratic Alliance government for failure to check crime in Bihar where 'people are forced to live in terror'.
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, who had shared the stage with Yadav and Sahni at some of the rallies, offered condolences and wrote on X 'it is expected that the government in Bihar will ensure strongest possible punishment to the culprits at the earliest and ensure justice to the bereaved Sahni family'.
Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which had helped Sahni become a minister in 2020 by getting him elected to the legislative council, only to force his expulsion less than two years later, asserted that the guilty would be brought to book.
"Spoke to Sahni and assured him that the government in Bihar has taken the incident very seriously and culprits will be brought to justice at the earliest," said Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, a former state BJP president.
Union ministers Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi also came out with condolence messages.
Manjhi, a former chief minister who heads Hindustani Awam Morcha, hit back at the RJD-led opposition.
He said, "When the RJD was in power, the CM's residence had turned into the headquarters of all criminal gangs. Nobody can think such things are possible under Nitish Kumar."
