Police in Bihar's Supaul district failed to give the traditional 21-gun salute to former chief minister Jagannath Mishra after their rifles failed to fire during his last rites on Wednesday.
The cremation of Mishra took place at his native village Baluwa Bazar, where Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi and other top leaders and ministers were present. The three-time chief minister of Bihar had died on Monday in Delhi.
Deputy inspector general of police (Kosi range) Suresh Chaudhary, who was monitoring the security during the cremation, was reportedly told by Supaul's superintendent of police that the cartridges in the guns had gone amiss and hence he did not order to fire.
Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) MLA from Pipra (Supaul) Yaduvansh Kumar Yadav said it was an utter disrespect and dishonour to the departed leader and demanded a thorough probe into the matter.
"This is not an ordinary thing, this is a complete failure of government and administration which could not accord due respect to the leader who has given Bihar a new direction," he said.
Popularly known as Doctor Sahib, Jagannath Mishra died on Monday after a protracted illness at his Delhi residence. His mortal remains were brought to Patna, where a large number of people including chief minister Kumar and other ministers and leaders across the party lines paid floral tributes to the leader.
Mishra's body was then brought to his native village on Wednesday via Darbhanga, Samastipur where people paid their last respects to the leader.
Sanjeev Mishra the eldest son of the departed leader lighted the funeral pyre in the premises of Panchmukhi Hanuman Mandir at Baluwa Bazar in presence of thousands of mourners.