The Bihar BJP Facebook page and X handle on November 9 shared a screenshot of a Dainik Bhaskar report which said that an elderly Dalit man voted for the BJP-led NDA in the Bihar polls and had been beaten to death by the Opposition.
The report states that 70-year-old Shankar Paswan from Sakhaura Patsara village in Hattha police station area of Muzaffarpur district had voted for the NDA. This angered supporters of the Opposition, who lynched him.
BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya also shared the Dainik Bhaskar report and wrote, “70-year-old Shankar Paswan was brutally beaten to death just because he voted for the BJP. This is what the so-called ‘social justice’ of the RJD amounted to.”
मुजफ्फरपुर जिले के हत्था थाना क्षेत्र के सखौरा पटसारा गांव में 70 वर्षीय बुजुर्ग शंकर पासवान की पीट-पीटकर बेरहमी से हत्या कर दी गई, सिर्फ इसलिए क्योंकि उन्होंने भाजपा को वोट दिया था। यही है राजद का तथाकथित ‘सामाजिक न्याय’।
बिहार आज भी लालू राज में हुए दलितों के नरसंहार को नहीं… pic.twitter.com/bUq3hmSeX8
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) November 9, 2025
Union minister of food processing industries and Hajipur MP Chirag Paswan also termed the incident a case of election rivalry, and wrote that the brutal murder of Shankar Paswan showed the frustration of RJD supporters.
गायघाट विधानसभा के सखौरा पटसारा गांव में शंकर पासवान जी की राजद समर्थकों द्वारा की गई निर्मम हत्या अत्यंत निंदनीय और पीड़ादायक है।
परिजनों द्वारा लगाए गए चुनावी रंजिश के आशंका, राजद समर्थकों की चुनावी हार की हताशा और जंगलराज को वापस लाने की मानसिकता का प्रतीक हैं।
मैं प्रशासन…
— युवा बिहारी चिराग पासवान (@iChiragPaswan) November 10, 2025
Apart from this, a video was shared on all the social media handles (Facebook, Instagram and X handle) of Bihar BJP claiming that a 70-year-old Dalit man had been beaten to death in Muzaffarpur only because he had voted for the NDA.
Apart from Dainik Bhaskar, TV9 Bharatvarsh, News 18 Hindi also published the news based on the allegations of the deceased’s family.
Police Deny Political Angle
A keyword search led us to a Jagran report published on November 9, 2025, on the same incident. According to the report, upon receiving information about the incident in Sakhaura Patsara village in the Hattha police station area of Muzaffarpur district, Hattha police station chief Lokesh Kumar Chaudhary, Piar police station chief Rajnikant, Sakra police station chief Sukhwinder Nayan, and SDPO Manoj Kumar Singh started an investigation. The deceased’s family alleged that the incident was the fallout of an election rivalry, but police denied this.
The report further says the deceased’s daughter-in-law told the police that on Saturday, November 8, Ramesh Rai’s daughter was tearing a branch from a roadside jalebi tree (a plant bearing a tamarind-like fruit). Shankar Paswan objected to this. Following an argument, the women and other members of Ramesh Rai’s family beat up the elderly man, resulting in his death.
According to reports, a woman has been arrested and is being questioned following the incident. SDPO Manoj Kumar Singh stated that the murder resulted from a dispute regarding cutting branches of a tree for feeding cattle. He also stated that only the post-mortem report would reveal the exact cause of death, but the incident could not be linked to an election-related dispute.
Additionally, we found a post from the official X handle of Muzaffarpur Police from November 9 refuting the news published by various outlets. It stated that the incident in question was completely unrelated to the election. The statement clearly states that the claim, “If you vote at the wrong place, you will have to face consequences,” is baseless and factually incorrect.
विभिन्न न्यूज चैनलों में चलाए जा रहे भ्रामक ख़बर का खंडन….#BiharPolice#janpolice#Muzaffarpurpolice#bihar_police_for_your_help pic.twitter.com/zlnvqXzYKv
— Muzaffarpur Police (@MuzaffarpurPol3) November 9, 2025
When Alt News contacted Hattha police, station chief Lokesh Kumar refuted the claim that the alleged murder was related to election rivalry. He stated that the elderly man died after he had fallen down during a scuffle between two parties over tearing of leaves from a roadside tree.
To sum up, the news and the viral social media claims by the BJP that 70-year-old Shankar Paswan of Muzaffarpur district was beaten to death by the Opposition supporters for voting for the NDA are misleading. Muzaffarpur police has summarily rejected these claims.
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