BJP's ST unit leader attacked in Jharkhand, hospitalised

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Jamshedpur: Motorcycle-borne men attacked a leader of Jharkhand BJP's Scheduled Tribe unit injuring him seriously at Sopodera on the outskirts of Jamshedpur city on Tuesday (October 2), police said.

The incident occurred when Ram Singh Munda, the media in-charge of the state BJP's ST Morcha, was going to meet Union Tribal Welfare Minister Arjun Munda, who was in the city.

"Investigations are on. We are trying to identify the assailants from CCTV footage," Officer-in-Charge of Parsudih police station, Vimal Kindo, said.

The motive of the attack is still not clear but preliminary investigations revealed that Ram Singh Munda was involved in a movement against the encroachment of tribal land, Kindo said.

Munda said two motorcycle-borne miscreants attacked him with an iron rod and a lathi, and he suffered fractures in the attack.

Munda who is undergoing treatment in a hospital claimed that the attack was planned and politically motivated.

The BJP torched an effigy of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren to protest against the incident.

The state party's ST Morcha president Shiv Shankar Oraon said, "The law and order situation in the state is deteriorating under the present dispensation. BJP leaders and workers were being attacked across the state. Criminals have no fear of the police."

Oraon, who met Munda in the hospital, demanded that the perpetrators of the attack must be identified and arrested soon. A JMM-led coalition is in power in Jharkhand.