Bihar SHO Sangram Kumar Singh Suspended After Video Shows Him Pointing Pistol at Flood Victims

The Station House Officer of Maker Police Station in Bihar’s Saran district has been suspended after a video circulating on social media appeared to show him pointing his service pistol at people during the distribution of flood-relief material.

Sangram Kumar Singh, a police sub-inspector posted as the SHO of Maker, was placed under suspension with immediate effect through an order issued on 4 October 2026 by Saran Senior Superintendent of Police Roshan Kumar. The SSP’s office said the footage prima facie suggested “gross negligence of duty, indiscipline and arbitrariness.” During the suspension period, Singh will remain attached to the Saran Police Centre and will receive a subsistence allowance as per rules. An inquiry into the incident has also been ordered.

The clip was recorded at Rewa Ghat in the Maker police-station area, where relief material was being handed out from pickup vehicles to a crowd of flood-affected residents. In the video, Singh can be seen standing on one of the vehicles while people queue nearby. As one person appears to pull a bag from the pickup, he is seen jumping onto the vehicle, telling those present to stay back, and briefly drawing his pistol and pointing it towards the group.

Local reports said the scene followed a commotion among the crowd and an argument between police personnel and residents during the distribution of supplies.

The suspension comes against the backdrop of severe flood stress across Saran and adjoining districts after heavy rainfall in Nepal and neighbouring areas in the last week of September. Official figures put the number of affected people at nearly 9.87 lakh across 169 gram panchayats in 30 blocks spread over six districts — Saran, West Champaran, East Champaran, Gopalganj, Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur. In Saran, flooding has cut off road access to many villages, forcing authorities to distribute dry ration by air drop as well as through ground-level relief operations.

The video involving the suspended officer surfaced days after another tragedy in the same district during an Indian Air Force relief mission. On 2 October, Anil Kumar Singh, also known as Appu Singh, of Parshurampur died while residents were gathering packets dropped from an IAF helicopter. Accounts of the death differ: some local residents said a relief bag hit him, while others said he may have suffered a heart attack when material landed nearby.

Police have said the exact cause of death will be determined through a post-mortem examination. A woman and children were also reported injured in the rush to collect the dropped packets. By 3 October, IAF helicopters had flown multiple sorties over the district, dropping several tonnes of dry ration in areas where road access remained cut off.

Police have not yet issued a detailed public explanation from the suspended officer. The departmental inquiry will examine both the video and the circumstances under which relief was being distributed at Rewa Ghat.