Five days after miscreants set ablaze three members of a family when they resisted their attempt to demolish their house on the evening of February 10 in Bihar’s Darbhanga, two of the siblings, one of them pregnant, succumbed to burn injuries at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) on Tuesday, triggering outrage in the town.

According to a family source, Pinki Jha (36), who was eight month pregnant, died early Tuesday morning. In the afternoon, her brother Sanjay Jha (31) also succumbed to injuries. Pinki had already lost her child in the womb three days ago. Their youngest sister Nikki Jha had also sustained burn injuries on her lower limbs but had returned home after treatment.

Police sources said eight people have been arrested in the case so far, but the main accused, Shiv Kumar Jha, is still at large. An FIR (first information report) was lodged with Town police station against Shiv Kumar and 40 others on February 11.

According to Nikki Jha, on February 10, a group of people led by Shiv Kumar Jha set her and other two siblings on fire when they resisted their attempt to bulldoze their house with a JCB machine at 8 pm despite the fact that they had alerted the police earlier in the day. The incident took place on posh G M Road locality in Raj Kumar Ganj under the jurisdiction of Town police station.

Speaking to this reporter after death of her pregnant sister in Patna on Tuesday morning, a sobbing Nikki claimed that police didn’t take timely action despite their repeated pleas and even after she, along with her mother, Rita Jha, the widow of late Srinath Jha, informed the senior superintendent of police (SSP) that Shiv Kumar Jha and his men had come with a JCB machine to demolish their house at dusk on February 9.

“The next morning, on February 10, we went to meet the SSP at his office but we were not allowed to meet him. The SSP talked to us over phone when officer at Town police station refused to take our application. The latter, however, accepted our application on Thursday evening around 6 pm. However, at 8 pm the same day, Shiv Kumar Jha and 40 others attacked us and started demolishing our house with a JCB machine. When we sisters and our only brother, Sanjay Jha, resisted their attempt, they hurled petrol like substance on us and set us on fire”, Nikki alleged.

Darbhanga SSP Ashok Kumar Prasad did not answer calls.

However, on Tuesday morning, police inspector Shashi Kant Singh was assigned responsibility as new officer-in-charge of Town police station in place of Rakesh Kumar Singh, who was earlier removed from the post for dereliction of duty in handling the incident of February 9 and 10, respectively.

A case relating to dispute over property between the victims’ family and the accused has been pending for disposal in the Patna High Court since 2019.

Meanwhile, CPI-ML politburo member Dhirendra Jha, who visited the victims’ residence on Tuesday, called for Darbhanga bandh on February 16 in protest against the incident.“The alleged key culprit Shiv Kumar Jha must be arrested at the earliest. People from every walk of life and across the political spectrum should come forward to join the protest,” Jha said.

On Sunday, Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) chief Pappu Yadav had also visited the victim’s house.