A seven-year-old girl was allegedly raped by an inebriated man while her friend (9) was injured, as she managed to escape a rape attempt the accomplice of the accused on Holi, Wednesday, in Bihar’s Begusarai.

According to reports, the two girls, aged 7 and 9, who belong to same village, were on their way back from a local market on Holi during afternoon hours. The girls stopped at a local government school in Panchdir Chowk on their way back home to enjoy a swing ride where they were approached by the two men, who tried to coax the minors to come with them. The men were reportedly drunk.

Liquor is banned in Bihar.

The girls, fearing their motives, refused and one child hid tried hiding in the school toilet where one of the accused, identified as Sohan Kumar alias Chhotu Mahto, allegedly raped her. The victim’s friend managed to resist the rape bid by the second accused, Bablu Kumar, and ran away to a nearby street where she informed people about the incident.

The girl sustained injuries while escaping the rape bid.

Reports said that locals soon rushed to the spot and rescued the rape victim who had been thrown into the bushes by the accused after the horrendous act.

The girls, as per reports, have been admitted to the Sadar Hospital for treatment where their condition is stated to be critical.

Tension gripped the area after the news of the incident surfaced as the victims and the accused belonged to different communities.

A senior official said that a case under the POSCO act has been registered and both accused have been arrested.

He said that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Bihar Police nabbed Chhotu Mahato from a field on Wednesday evening while Bablu Kumar was arrested on Thursday, adding that further investigation is ongoing.

One of the accused is reportedly a former sarpanch.

A middle-aged Muslim man died of injuries on Wednesday after he was viciously beaten by a mob in a village of Saran district in Bihar on Tuesday on the suspicion of carrying beef, police said.

As per reports, the victim, 56-year-old Naseem Qureshi, a resident of Hasanpur district in nearby Siwan district and his nephew Firoz Ahmad Qureshi were enroute to meet some acquaintances when they were reportedly intercepted by a rabid mob near a mosque at Jogia village, 110 kms from state capital Patna.

The Uncle-Nephew duo were cornered by the mob and accused of carrying beef, the irate villagers brutally thrashed Naseem Qureshi with lathis (wooden sticks) while his nephew managed to escape with his life. An official said the mob then handed over Qureshi to the cops in Rasulpur village who rushed him to a hospital where succumbed to injuries on Wednesday morning.

The official said that the police has registered an FIR against the accused under Sections 302 (murder), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention and 379 (theft) of the IPC, and arrested three suspects including the local sarpanch Sushil Singh and two others, identified as Ravi Sah and Ujwal Sharma.

However, the victim’s family has alleged that the police are trying to “protect” the accused. Police said that its still investigating if the duo was carrying beef or not and the incident is being treated as a case of mob lynching.

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Narrating the horrifying ordeal, Firoz—the nephew of the deceased who managed to flee from the mob—said that a mob led by the local sarpanch halted them at Jogia village accused them of carrying beef. The sarpanch then ordered his men to thrash Naseem and Firoz, he alleged, adding that he managed to escape by outrunning his pursuers.

However, his uncle wasn’t so lucky as the mob managed to catch a hold of him and went on viciously beat him with sticks causing fatal injuries. Firoz said that he went back to the site and witnessed a large mob of local villagers thrashing Naseem. He then went to nearby Rasulpur police station and alerted the cops.

Sometime later, Firoz claimed that he saw a police vehicle carrying his uncle but Naseem wasn’t at the police station when he went looking for him there. He claimed that some people present at the station including the Rasulpur mukhiya (panchayat head) told him that his uncle wasn’t feeling well and has been taken to Daraunda in Siwan.

Firoz claimed that mukhiya mukhiya scolded him, saying that he saved his uncle despite carrying beef. He said that later he found out that Naseem was taken to the Siwan government hospital where doctors referred him to the Patna Medical College for treatment, however, he died of his wounds on Wednesday morning.

The victim’s body was sent to the Chhapra government hospital for postmortem after which it was handed over to his relatives in Hasanpura village.

Naseem’s brother Ashraf Qureshi accused the local police to trying to shield the culprits and demanded a fair probe into the incident.

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Holi festivities turned into tragedy for a sleepy little village in Gaya district of Bihar as three people, including a woman, of the same family were killed when a mortar shell exploded in the area.

As per reports, three people died while three others sustained critical injuries when a mortar shell exploded well beyond the Army’s firing range on early Wednesday morning in a village of Bihar’s Gaya district.

According to the police, the mishap took place in Gularved village under the jurisdiction of Barachatti police station area when an Army mortal shell which landed well outside the firing range went off resulting in injuries to six villagers, including three women.

A senior police official said the injured were rushed to the Anugraha Narayan Magadh Medical College and Hospital in the town where three of the wounded, including a woman, succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment.

He said that three others—all women, including a minor girl—are receiving medical attention at the hospital, where their condition is stated to be critical.

The dead, all residents of Gularved village, include two men and a woman from the same family.

The deceased have been identified as Govind Manjhi (25) son-in-law of Gola Manjhi (resident of Dobhi), Suraj Kumar (18) Gularved and Kanchan Kumari (45), while the injured include Geeta Kumari (11), Rasho Devi (30), Pintu Manjhi (25).

The official said that a police team has been dispatched to the spot to investigate the incident, adding that police is investigating every possible angle as to how the mortar shell landed so far outside the firing range.

Local media reports quoting residents said the people are shocked how the shell landed in the village as the Gularved hamlet is nowhere near the firing range. Recently, a mortar shell had landed in the house in a nearby village, triggering panic.