Mumbai: A job-seeking Bihari youth who was shot at by the police as he reportedly tried to hijack a bus in the city wielding a pistol on Monday morning in protest against the recent attacks on non-Maharashtrians here, especially north Indians, has succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.

         At around ten on Monday morning, the youth, Rahul Raj, a 26-year old native of Patna, boarded a BEST bus number 332. When asked to buy ticket, he shouted slogans like "Jai Bihar" and "Jai Patna". A heated exchange ensued and the conductor asked the driver to stop the bus near the police post. When the police asked him to surrender, the youth fired from his country-made pistol.

         Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Rakesh Maria, said, "The man fired at the police in 'Bail' bazar area of Kurla and was shot in retaliatory fire." Maria said that police suspected the gunman was trying to take the bus passengers hostage and the fact was being verified. He was pronounced dead at the Rajawadi hospital in Ghatkopar, where he was taken after being shot at.

         Later, while talking to reporters, the conductor said that Rahul wanted to kill Raj Thackeray, the chief of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which is spearheading an anti-immigrant agitation in the state.

         Justifying the police action, RR Patil, Maharashtra Home (Interior) Minister, told reporters in Nagpur that anyone who takes the law in his hands will be dealt with in a similar manner.

         Meanwhile, in Patna, Rahul's father Kundan Pratap Singh said, "He (Rahul) completed diploma in X-Ray and had gone to Mumbai for a job. He had just left on October 24."

          On October 19, MNS activists had attacked north Indian railway job aspirants in Mumbai. Raj Thackeray was subsequently arrested on October 21 on the charge of rioting and provoking attacks on migrants..     
-October 27, 2008