Patna: Sushma Devi, granddaughter of Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, was shot dead, allegedly by her husband in the Tetua village in Gaya’s Atri Block in Bihar, on Wednesday.
Gaya senior superintendent of police Anand Kumar confirmed the incident and said that a special team has been formed to trace the accused. There was no response from Manjhi (80), a former chief minister of Bihar and now the MP from Gaya. He is the Union minister for MSMEs.
The incident occurred when Sushma was at home with her children and sister Poonam. According to the latter, a fight broke out between Sushma and her husband Ramesh after he returned home from work around noon. She claimed that Ramesh suddenly pulled out a country made pistol and shot Sushma, before fleeing the spot.
Poonam and Sushma’s children, who were in another room, rushed to Sushma on hearing the shots and found her lying in a pool of blood. She died instantaneously.
“We demand his immediate arrest. We want the death sentence for him,” Poonam told the media.
Sushma apparently worked as a Vikas Mitra in the village – a link between villagers and development schemes of the government under the Mahadalit Vikas Mission. Ramesh drives a truck in Patna.
“A forensic team and technical experts have been sent to the place of occurrence to collect evidence. Further probe is underway,” the SSP said.
Locals said that Sushma and Ramesh belonged to different castes and had married 14:years ago.
