Panic has emptied Harinagar village of its male population following a ferocious brawl in Darbhanga district’s Kusheshwar Asthan area. Triggered by a decade-old wage dispute, the mayhem prompted 70 households’ men to flee arrest fears, stranding families under police watch.
The saga began in 2015 with Vikram Paswan’s unpaid supervision of Hemkant Jha’s home build—Rs 2.5 lakh still outstanding. Sparks flew on January 30 with Jha’s son-in-law’s arrival, demands unmet leading to January 31’s horror: armed attackers invaded Paswan’s abode, inflicting beatings, indignities on women, and theft.
An SC/ST FIR names 70 Brahmins and 150 unknowns. With 12 nabbed and 10+ hurt, DSP Prabhakar Tiwari described it as a financial feud gone awry, probes active. Women voice despair: ‘Our harmonious village is shattered; basics unavailable in this siege of anxiety.’ Mukhiya Vimal Chandra Khan questions police lethargy, positing swift January 30 response averts disaster.
SSP Reddy pledges innocence protection. Security ramps up, yet commerce stalls, life frozen. This episode underscores unresolved debts’ peril in Bihar’s countryside, where old scores violently resurface.