The police in Bihar’s Supaul district on Wednesday failed to give the 21-gun salute to former Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra, who died in New Delhi on Monday, after their guns did not fire during the funeral ceremony, Hindustan Times reported.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi, and other ministers attended the ceremony in Mishra’s native village. Superintendent of Police Mrityunjay Kumar Chaudhary told Deputy Inspector General of Police (Kosi range) Suresh Chaudhary that the cartridges in the guns had gone missing, following which he did not give orders to fire.

Rashtriya Janata Dal MLA from Pipra, Yaduvansh Kumar Yadav, lashed out at the government. “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 claimed. Yadav demanded a thorough investigation.