75-year-old shot dead near Bihta

PATNA: Unidentified criminals shot dead an elderly person for allegedly resisting dacoity inside his house at village Musepur under Bihta police station area in western Patna at around 2am on Saturday. Only the deceased, Ram Prasad Singh (75), and his wife Shakuntala Devi were inside their house.
Police said jewellery worth around Rs1 lakh and Rs5,000 were looted.
Sniffer dogs were pressed into service in the morning, but police could not make any breakthrough in the case.
Sources said at least seven to eight dacoits barged into Singh’s house and looted the cash and ornaments before killing him. Later, they also attempted dacoity in a neighbouring house, but failed.
Police sources said Singh had caught hold of one of the dacoits after which he was shot in the chest, killing him on the spot.
Bihta police station SHO Atulesh Kumar Singh said no empty cartridges were recovered from the spot. “Only Singh and his wife were present in the house. She told the police that four unidentified persons had barged inside their house between 12 midnight and 2am,” he said.
The SHO said the woman is in a shock and extreme grief due to which she is unable to give a proper description of the incident to police.
Danapur SDPO Vineet Kumar said police are investigating the case from the angle of house dacoity as well as from murder over personal enmity as well.
“No such incident had taken place there in the past. So, we are also investigating if someone had an enmity with Singh and intentionally came to kill him by trying to give the impression that it was a dacoity case,” the SDPO said.
Kumar said the deceased was a farmer with a humble background and his financial situation was not such that dacoits would target his house.