Patna, Apr 7 (IANS): The Bihar police on Wednesday arrested five persons, including the main accused, allegedly involved in the murder of five persons in Bihar's Madhubani district on Holi, said a police official.
Jitendra Kumar, Bihar Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), confirmed the arrest of the accused. He said the main accused Praveen Jha alias Ravan along with four other co-accused was arrested in this case.
"The other accused have been identified as Chandan Jha, Mukesh, Saafi and Bhola Singh. The main accused Praveen's younger brother Naveen Jha is still absconding," Kumar added.
Sources said all the accused had fled to Nepal and the police traced them there but the Bihar police, however, maintained that the accused were arrested from various districts of Bihar.
Meanwhile, Tejashwi Yadav, the Leader of Opposition, claimed that the arrests were possible only after he relentlessly put pressure on the Nitish Kumar government after the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader's visit to Mohammadpur village in Madhubani district on Tuesday.
"The Bihar government has two Deputy Chief Ministers but none of them visited Madhubani to meet the victims' families. After I put pressure on the ruling Janata Dal United and the Bharatiya Janata Party as well as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the arrests were made," Tejashwi said.
Tarkishore Prasad, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister, retorted to Tejashwi Yadav and said the incident was unfortunate but the opposition RJD and Congress leaders were giving it a communal colour.
"BJP sent cabinet Minister Neeraj Kumar Bablu soon after the incident in Madhubani and the state government is taking the incident seriously," Prasad added.
The incident occurred in Mohammadpur on March 29 during Holi when nearly 35 armed men opened fire at the family of Ranvijay Singh over a land dispute. Ranvijay Singh and his cousin brother Virendra Singh were killed on the spot. Three other family members -- Rana Pratap Singh, Amrendra Singh and Rudra Narayan Singh succumbed to their injuries in Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) a day later. Another injured person Manoj Singh is admitted in Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital.