Teacher Shot Dead in Bihar’s Araria

PATNA:
A woman teacher was allegedly shot dead by bike-borne assailants in Bihar’s Araria district on Wednesday, triggering panic.

The deceased, Shivani Kumari (28), posted at Middle School Khabadh Kanhaili, was a resident of Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh.

The incident occurred when Shivani was on her way to school in Khabadh Kanhaili village, under the Narpatganj police station area.

She was travelling from her rented house in Forbesganj when two bikers intercepted her.

According to a police official, about a hundred metres from the school, near a Shiva temple, two masked men on a motorcycle stopped her scooter, forced her to remove her helmet, and then shot her on the head at point-blank range. Shivani collapsed and succumbed on the spot.

Local villagers rushed to help after witnessing people running towards the school.

Villagers Sudhir Yadav and Gaurav Kumar rushed her to Sadar Hospital in Araria, where doctors declared her dead upon arrival.

Sudhir, who was sowing wheat in his field at the time, said he rushed towards the school after sensing commotion in the area.

Senior police officials, including SP Anjani Kumar, Forbesganj SDPO Mukesh Kumar Sah, and personnel from the Narpatganj police station, reached the spot and initiated an investigation.

SP Anjani Kumar said the case was being probed from all possible angles.

“We have registered an FIR against unknown criminals. The perpetrators will be identified and arrested soon,” he said.

The cause of the crime was yet to be ascertained.

Shivani passed the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) teachers recruitment examination two years ago and was staying in Forbesganj.

The district police recovered her body and sent it for the post-mortem examination.

The family members of the victim were informed.

Further investigation was underway.

Hours after the incident, the main opposition in the Bihar Assembly, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), in a post on the social media platform X, said that a woman teacher going to school on a scooty was shot dead in Araria.

The RJD further alleged that the morale of the criminals was high.