Agrawal allegedly shot 38-year-old Dhiraj Mahato. But he reportedly told the police that the firing took place when his bodyguard was cleaning his carbine. But Dhiraj’s brother, Niraj,  told the police in the FIR that Agrawal “used carbine of his bodyguard Awadhesh Singh to kill Mahato, who worked at an Araria business unit of the MLC.”

Incidentally, Agrawal had faced similar charges in 2008 when one person was killed in in similar “accidental firing” from the weapon of his bodyguard. He is considered very close to a top BJP minister of Bihar.

According to reports Mahato went to Agrawal’s residence, adjacent to the petrol pump, to highlight some irregularities at his Araria unit and later reportedly refused to work with him. Angry at Mahato’s defiance, Agrawal allegedly took the carbine of his bodyguard and shot Mahato. The post mortem report is awaited.

Ashok Agrawal was in news last year when four Muslims, including a woman and an infant, were brutally killed in police firing on the plot of land in Bhajanpur village of Forbesganj sub-division of Araria district on which his son, Saurabh Agrawal, wanted to build a factory. The opposition then openly accused the deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi of shielding the MLC and his son. The Commission which was constituted to probe that incident has after much delay now started the hearing.

Meanwhile, the leader of opposition in the Bihar Assembly, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, questioned the role of the police and asked as to how can the police call it accidental firing without verifying the incident.

Tuesday’s incident sparked widespread anger and condemnation with people taking to streets with Dhiraj’s body and demanding the immediate arrest of the MLC. They also blocked the main road at Shaheed Chowk.