Bihar: Lawyer shot dead in Patna; 4 killed in shootings in last 24 hours
Patna: A 58-year-old man named Jitendra Kumar Mahto was shot dead on Thursday in the Sultanpur police station area of Patna. Mahto, who was a lawyer by profession, was returning after having tea when unknown attackers opened fire on him. He was rushed to the hospital but could not be saved.
According to Patna East SP Parichay Kumar, three bullet shells were found at the spot, and police are looking into the case from all possible angles. Mahto had stopped practising law about two years ago, but he would regularly visit the area for tea, his family said.
Senior police officers, including Patna City ASP Atulesh Jha, visited the scene. The local police are reviewing CCTV footage from the area, and the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) has been informed to assist in the investigation.
Mahto's killing is the fourth such incident in Bihar within 24 hours, raising concerns about the law and order situation in the state, especially with elections nearing.
Earlier, on Saturday, a businessman named Putu Khan was shot in the head at close range at Mehsaul Chowk in Sitamarhi, one of the busiest markets in the district. CCTV footage of the attack shows the shooting happening in broad daylight. Khan died during treatment at a private hospital.
His family refused to allow a post-mortem and protested on the road with his body, blaming a land dispute linked to his business for the murder. The area remained tense, and locals did not allow media persons to shoot videos during the protest.
In another incident the same day, Surendra Kumar, a 50-year-old veterinary doctor and former BJP Kisan Morcha block president, was shot in Sheikhpura village in Patna district while watering his field. Two men on a motorcycle fired at him. Villagers found him with bullet injuries and took him to AIIMS Patna, where he later died. Police have not yet found any eyewitnesses and are investigating various angles, including political ones.
A day earlier, on Friday evening, a grocery shop owner named Vikram Jha was shot dead in the Ramkrishna Nagar area of Patna by an unknown attacker. The motive behind the attack remains unclear.
So far, no arrests have been made in any of these four killings.
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Our relationship with both India and Pakistan is 'good': US
New York/Washington (PTI): America’s relationship with both India and Pakistan is “good”, the US State Department has said, asserting that the diplomats are "committed to both nations".
Speaking at a briefing on Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said that the US working with both nations is good news for the region and the world, and will promote a beneficial future.
“I would say that our relationship with both nations is as it has been, which is good. And that is the benefit of having a President who knows everyone, talks to everyone, and that is how we can bring differences together in this case. So it's clear that the diplomats here are committed to both nations,” Bruce said.
She was responding to a question on the possibility of increased US assistance to Islamabad in terms of arms sales following Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir’s meeting with Trump, and whether this was coming at the cost of Trump's relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Referring to the May conflict between India and Pakistan, Bruce added, “Obviously, we had an experience with Pakistan and India when there was a conflict, one that could have developed into something quite horrible.”
She said that there was "immediate concern and immediate movement" with Vice President J D Vance, President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in “addressing the nature of what was happening….we described the nature of the phone calls, the work that we did to stop the attacks and to then bring the parties together so we could have something that was enduring."
She also claimed that top leaders in the US were involved in “stopping that potential catastrophe.”
New Delhi has been maintaining that India and Pakistan halted their military actions following direct talks between their militaries without any mediation by the US.
Bruce added that the recent peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan “follows negotiated peace arrangements between Cambodia and Thailand, Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Ethiopia and Serbia and Kosovo.”
Meanwhile, in an interview on Tuesday, Rubio said that “credit goes to” Trump for helping bring several conflicts around the world to an end.
Trump says he wants “to be the President of peace. And so any time we see a conflict where we think we can make a difference, we get involved, and we’ve had good success in that regard. India-Pakistan, Thailand-Cambodia, the peace deal with Azerbaijan and Armenia, just a few days ago,” he said in an interview with ‘Sid and Friends in the Morning’.
