Patna:

Twelve people were killed in lightning strikes in Bihar over the last 24 hours, an official statement said on Monday.

With this, the total number of deaths in lightning strikes since July 1 rose to 42. Among them are 10 people who died on Sunday, and nine people who died on Saturday.

According to the statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), Jamui and Kaimur reported three fresh deaths each, followed by Rohtas where two people died, while one person each died in Saharsa, Saran, Bhojpur, Gopalganj.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed condolences over the deaths and announced an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh each for the next of families of the victims. 

He appealed to the people to remain alert and stay indoors during thunderstorms. He also urged people to follow advisories issued by the Disaster Management Department.

According to the Bihar Economic Survey of 2023-24, tabled in the assembly in February, the state witnessed 400 deaths related to lightning and thunderstorms in 2022. The highest number of deaths were reported from Gaya (46), Bhojpur (23) and Nawada (21).

Between 2018 and 2022, 9,687 deaths happened due to various natural disasters and accidents in the state, the survey report said.

In 2022-2023, the highest number of deaths occurred due to drowning (1,132), followed by road accidents (654) and lightning strikes (400).

“Bihar allocated Rs 430.92 crore for management of disasters in 2022-2023, with the largest portion going toward local disasters like lightning and drowning (Rs 285.22 crore),” it said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

For months, Bihar’s Muzaffarpur was home to a call centre from hell.

A company called DBR Networking had put up advertisements across social media, including Facebook, seeking agents for a call centre run by them. The catch: the applicants had to be women.

As soon as a woman would apply, police officials said, they would be shown dreams of a bright future and then be asked to pay Rs 20,000 to undergo training for the job, for which they would be asked to go to Muzaffarpur. The training would begin soon after, but so would a cycle of mental torture, fraud and, in some cases, even rape and forced abortions, said an official.

According to a First Information Report (FIR) filed by one of the survivors on June 2, she fell for the advertisement, thinking it was genuine, and reached the company’s centre in Muzaffarpur, where there were around 150 women like her. She said she got in touch with one of the accused, Tilak Kumar Singh, and she and all the other women were trained to make calls and trick people into falling for scams.

The women were mentally tortured when they failed to meet their targets and the survivor who filed the FIR said she was raped when she missed hers. She alleged that Tilak Kumar Singh forced her to have sex with her on multiple occasions and then made her undergo an abortion when she got pregnant.

Nine people have been named as an accused in the FIR with the main accused being Manish Kumar Singh, a resident of Noida, who is said to be the owner of the company.

An official said Tilak Kumar Singh has been taken into custody and is being interrogated. Efforts are on to arrest the other eight, he added.

“Tilak Kumar has been arrested from Gorakhpur… The survivor has alleged that the accused kept on assaulting her in a room for several months,” Awadhesh Dixit, Superintendent of Police (City), Muzaffarpur, was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Patna:

A convicted former legislator held a massive roadshow for a candidate fielded by Nitish Kumar’s party in Bihar, hours after he left jail on a 15-day parole.

Anant Kumar Singh, also known as Chhote Sarkar, has been a five-time MLA from Mokama. He was released from the Beur Central Jail in Patna this morning.

Grand arrangements were made to welcome him, including dhols, a shower of petals, and a massive convoy of cars. He began his roadshow from Sabneema village in Barh assembly constituency and sought support for the JDU candidate from Munger, Lalan Singh. Both Mokama and Barh assembly segments fall under the Munger Lok Sabha constituency.

As Anant Singh stepped out of his car, he received a grand welcome. Slogans were raised for him and Lalan Singh, with a massive crowd waiting for hours on the route to greet the jailed leader.

Anant Singh, who had won his last assembly election in 2020 on an RJD ticket, was convicted in an arms case and is serving 10 years imprisonment.

Bettiah (Bihar):

A woman, arrested in connection with a murder case, was found hanging inside the premises of a police station in Bihar’s West Champaran district on Monday, an officer said.

The accused was arrested in connection with a dowry death case and she was lodged in the women’s barrack at Shikarpur police station in Bettiah, the district headquarters of West Champaran.

Police suspect that she hanged herself from a ceiling fan using her sari, shortly before she was to be taken to a local court for production.

“The incident took place when police women in the barrack had gone out to prepare documents for her production before the court. When they returned to the barrack, they found her hanging,” Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Bettiah, Jaiprakash Singh, told reporters.

The woman was taken to a hospital where she was declared dead, he said.

A magisterial enquiry has been ordered into the incident.

Police are also investigating lapses, if any, on the part of officials who were assigned the job to keep an eye on her inside the barrack, said the SDPO.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Patna:

In an aggressive demonstration in Mahnar block of Vaishali district in Bihar, girl students of a government school vandalised the vehicle of an Education Department officer while protesting against the lack of facilities in their school.

Angry students damaged the car of the Block Education Officer. They claim they resorted to vandalism only after being beaten up by a woman police officer. After hearing the allegations against her, the woman police officer said her health was worsening.

They blocked the main road of Mahnar Mohiuddinagar near Madan Chowk and Patel Chowk. Security has been tightened in the area after the incident.