Four volleyball players killed in dispute

Patna: Armed miscreants abducted and killed four volleyball players over an old dispute in Bihar in what is being described as one of the most gruesome killings in recent years. One of the victims had represented the national junior volleyball team, police said.

According to police, the victims, who belonged to Khagaria district in Bihar, had a minor dispute with a gangster during a volleyball match after which the latter hatched a plan to kill them.

Reports said the victims were lured on the pretext of playing another match with reward money.

Subsequently, all four left on two bikes to play volleyball matches. Soon after they reached a designated place, they were served food and liquor. However, once were inebriated, they were taken to the bank of Ganga, beaten up badly and then shot dead one by one before being thrown into the river in a packed bag, police said.

The incident came to light after the victim’s parents filed a case of missing with the local police yesterday. The victims had reportedly told the family members that they were going to play matches and would return soon.

Acting on the complaint, the police began investigating and picked up a youth for interrogation. It was during the course of questioning that the suspect revealed the entire story.

Based on his revelations, the police rushed to the state and found blood stains and clothes of the victims, but failed to recover any of the bodies. The police are now using divers to recover the bodies.

“The victims were first served liquor before being killed by the miscreants. The incident was carried out over an old dispute,” the local district superintendent of police Sudhir Kumar told the media on Saturday evening.

According to the police, some six criminals were involved in the killing of sportspersons. The police are now conducting raids to nab those on the lam.

Angry villagers on Sunday staged a protest and blocked a national highway, disrupting vehicular traffic for more than four hours. The blockade was lifted after the police promised to arrest the accused persons soon.