Full information on Brahmeshwar Singh ‘Mukhiya ji’ - Bihar

New Delhi: Brahmeshwar Singh alias ‘Mukhiya ji’ was the head of an upper caste militia, known as the Ranvir Sena.

Singh was on a morning walk when he was accosted by gunmen who pumped several bullets into him, killing him on the spot at Katira Mohalla under Nawada police station, 71 kms from Patna.

Brahmeshwar Singh was arrested in Patna on August 29, 2002 on several accounts of murder. Singh, who was earlier facing life imprisonment in various carnage cases, was acquitted and released from jail in April this year.

Ranvir Sena was founded in September 1994 in Belaur village of Udwantnagar block by Brahmeshwar Singh of Khopira. The core group of membership of the Ranvir Sena is composed of Brahman Bhumihars.


Ranvir Sena had influence in areas like Jahanabad, Patna, Rohtas, Aurangabad, Gaya, Bhabhua and Buxar districts.

Singh was allegedly responsible for perpetrating several killings including Laxmanpur Bathe massacre of 61 Dalits way back in December 1996.

Ranvir Sena is alleged to have carried out numerous mass killings of low caste villagers. The right-wing upper-caste landlord militia group has been accused of carrying out atrocities against Dalits and Maoists as well their sympathisers.

Ranvir Sena was banned by the Bihar government in July 1995.

Atrocities of Ranvir Sena

It has been alleged that the group killed 50 people during 1995 Bihar elections.

On 23 March 1997, the Ranvir Sena killed 10 workers in Haibaspur.

On 11 July 1996, 21 Dalits were slaughtered by the Ranvir Sena in Bathani Tola.

On 1 December 1997, they killed 61 Dalits.

The dreaded group justified the killing of women and children saying, "We kill children because they will grow up to become Naxalites. We kill women because they will give birth to Naxalites."

In 1999, the gang killed 22 Dalits. The group followed it with spate of killings in village of Narayanpur, where the Ranvir Sena killed 12 lower-caste people. 

source: http://zeenews.india.com/news/bihar/all-about-brahmeshwar-singh-mukhiya-ji_779088.html

Brahmeshwar Singh's murder: Bihar braces for retaliatory killings

ARA: Unidentified gunmen on Friday shot and killed Brahmeshwar Singh, the founder of dreaded upper caste militia Ranvir Sena, just weeks after his acquittal by the Patna High Court in the 1996 Bathani Tola carnage in which 21 Dalits were killed.

Singh, aka Mukhiya, who was released from jail in April, was on a morning walk near his Katira home at around 4.30am when, according to an eyewitness, around six armed men carrying sophisticated weapons pumped several bullets into him. Ranvir Sena, a Bhumihar vigilante group, was formed in 1994 in reaction to militant communist parties and Naxalites that included landless labourers, many of them Dalits.

Fierce caste wars raged in Bihar intermittently through the 1990s in which Ranvir Sena and Naxalites, both described as a terrorist groups, reduced the state to being called "the killing fields". While the Nitish Kumar government would now be bracing for a real possibility of retaliatory killings by the upper caste against their "social enemies", the Dalits and Naxalites, the town of Ara gave an indication of the shape of things to come.

Angry mob of around 5,000-strong people went berserk and gutted the recently-renovated circuit house. Another lot did not spare even the BDO's office, setting it and at least six cars in its premises on fire. Protesters also damaged railway offices at the Ara railway station and paralysed train movement on the main Howrah-Delhi route.

Administration sources fear Mukhiya's murder may lead to fresh violence, especially in nine "vulnerable" districts: Gaya, Aurangabad, Jehanabad, Arwal, Bhojpur, Buxar, Rohtas, Kaimur and Patna. These formed the core of Ranvir Sena's underground activities.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar, camping at Bhagalpur since Wednesday as part of his Sewa Yatra, said social harmony must be maintained at all cost. He assured stern action against the culprits.

The Bihar government had moved the Supreme Court in April against Patna High Court order setting aside the death sentence to three and life imprisonment to 20 others in the 1996 Bathani Tola carnage case, according to SC/ST Welfare Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi.

Ara looked deserted under Section 144. But angry supporters of Mukhiya didn't spare even Bhojpur SP M R Nayak and Bihar DGP Abhayanand, who were pushed and shoved. Abhayanand was given a hard shove when he went to meet Singh's family members. The shaken DGP regained his poise soon enough.

Addressing reporters at the local Sadar hospital, the DGP said an FIR was lodged against unidentified people for the murder. The forensic experts have taken samples for further investigation. He assured the agitating crowd that the culprit would be arrested soon.

Times View

Cold-blooded murders must be condemned in the strongest terms and this one is no exception. That said, the state must recognise that where the criminal justice system fails, the tendency for people to take recourse to extra-legal means will remain high and vigilantism can become the order of the day. Here, the fact that all those accused in the massacre of 21 dalits in Bathani Tola in 1996 have got away, has had a role to play. The challenge for the Bihar government now is to ensure that this killing does not trigger a fresh cycle of caste violence and counter-violence. It must not fail in this task.

 

 

source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Brahmeshwar-Singhs-murder-Bihar-braces-for-retaliatory-killings/articleshow/13714120.cms

Bihar: Ranvir Sena chief Brahmeshwar Singh shot dead

New Delhi: Ranvir Sena chief Brahmeshwar Singh was shot dead on Friday morning when he stepped out of his house for a morning walk. The police say a probe is on to find out the culprit.

Singh was on a morning walk when he was accosted by gunmen who pumped several bullets into him, killing him on the spot at Katira Mohalla under Nawada police station, 71 kms from Patna, they said.
Angry supporters set two tankers and an auto on fire and chased away police personnel who were trying to take the body for an autopsy. The situation was tense in the area. Patrolling has been intensified in the area as tension ran high.
Singh alias Mukhiya ji, who was earlier facing life imprisonment in various carnage cases, was acquitted and released from jail in April this year.
The chief of Ranvir Sena, a private militia of upper caste landlords, is allegedly responsible for perpetrating several killings including Laxmanpur Bathe massacre of 61 Dalits way back in December 1996.
His hand was also suspected in carnages that took place in the districts of Jehanabad, Aurangabad and Nawada in 1990s.


source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/bihar-ranvir-sena-chief-brahmeshwar-shot-dead/263422-3.html