Patna, October 6
BJP leader and former Union Minister Ravishanker Prasad sustained serious injuries on his left arm when an unidentified gunmen shot at him at a party election meeting at Nokha in Sasaram today.
Prasad was air-lifted to Patna in a helicopter after the attack and was admitted to a private nursing home. According to nursing home sources, Mr Prasad was out of danger now.
The BJP MLA in the dissolved Assembly and party`s candidate from Nokha, Ramaprasad Chaurasia, was also injured, in the attack. The national general secretary of the BJP, Mr Pramod Mahajan, was also present at the election rally.
The DGP Bihar, Mr Ashish Ranjan Sinha, has asked the district police to nab the culprits and a red alert has been sounded in the area.
The state BJP president, Mr Sushil Modi, criticised the Governor, Mr Buta Singh, for failing to protect the life and property of the people in the state which was under the President’s rule.
According to a PTI report Mr Prasad, who was sharing the dais with Mr Pramod Mahajan and Mr Chaurasia in Nokha, 25 km from Sasaram, received bullet injuries in his left arm and was rushed to
a private clinic in Sasaram where pellets were removed. Both Mahajan and Chaurasia escaped unhurt.The unidentified assailant, who was severely thrashed by angry BJP workers with chairs, sticks and whatever was available, was presumed dead and taken by police to a government hospital in Sasaram for postmortem. However, doctors discovered that he was still breathing and was unconscious.
The former Information and Broadcasting Minister was later flown to Patna by a helicopter and admitted to a nursing home where his wounds were cleaned and an X-ray revealed multiple fractures in his arm, Dr Narendra Prasad, who is attending on him, said.
In an apparent breach of security in the naxal-affected area, the assailant climbed the dais carrying country-made pistols in both hands and fired a couple of shots when Prasad had just finished his address and Mahajan had begun his speech.
Home Secretary H.C. Sirohi said in Patna that the assailant’s target was Mr Chaurasia who on
sighting the gunman had ducked and the bullet hit Mr Parasad in the arm.
Mr Chaurasia, one of the petitioners who have challenged the dissolution of the state Assembly on which the Supreme Court had reserved its order, then caught hold of the gunman and snatched one of his pistols after which the crowd pounced on the assailant and beat him up.
Asked if Naxalites were suspected to be behind the attack, Mr Sirohi said though the area was affected by ultra-left violence, only a detailed investigation would bring out the truth.
Mr Mahajan said he too noticed the gunman coming from behind, but he was pushed to the ground by partymen present on the dais.
He said since Sasaram was only a few kms from the incident-site he decided to take Mr Prasad there instead of Patna and admitted him to the clinic.
Mr Chaurasia had recently filed a complaint with the police alleging that an attempt had been made on his life by his opponents in Sasaram, headquarters of Rohtas district, on September 25.
In the complaint, he had alleged that unidentified persons opposed to his petition in the apex court against the dissolution of the House, had attempted to eliminate him by attacking his vehicle near the Mufassil police station.
Meanwhile, the BJP, which was on the defensive yesterday after the revelation of the alleged involvement of the party MLA from Eastern UP in the abduction of the school student Golu, alias Gaurav Kumar, from Danapur, did not miss the opportunity to describe the attack on Mr Prasad as nothing but a reflection of the prevailing “goonda raj” in Bihar.
The NDA Chief Ministerial candidate, Mr Nitish Kumar, also condemned the incident and urged the people to reject the RJD-led UPA in the forthcoming elections to put an end to the growing criminalisation of politics in the state.
The BJP President, Mr L.K. Advani, has condemned the attack on Mr Prasad. Mr Advani spoke to both the party General Secretary Pramod Mahajan and state unit President Sushil Modi over phone.
Condemning the attack on former union minister and senior BJP leader Ravishankar Prasad today, Bihar Governor Buta Singh said he would get the incident thoroughly inquired into and perpetrators of the attack would be sternly dealt with, a PTI report said.
“Governor has taken a serious note of the incident and will get the attack on Mr Prasad inquired into and book all those responsible,” a Raj Bhavan spokesman told PTI.
He said additional security would be provided to Mr Prasad. Mr Buta Singh also directed the authorities to provide full security to political leaders campaigning for Assembly polls in Bihar.
