Khan Sir’s coaching centre in Patna has become something of a national institution — and institutions, when they attract enough attention, also attract threats.
Reports of firing near the entrance of the Patna coaching facility sent students and staff scrambling for cover on Tuesday afternoon, and the incident has since spiralled into a complex tangle of criminal allegations, political claims, and questions about the safety of one of Bihar’s most prominent educational brands.
What Happened
According to police accounts, unidentified individuals fired several rounds from a moving vehicle near the main entrance of Khan Sir’s coaching facility in the Rajendra Nagar area of Patna. No one was hit. Students who were entering and exiting the building at the time ran for cover, and several reported significant panic inside the compound.
Police arrived within minutes and sealed the area. CCTV footage from the facility and surrounding streets has been collected, and investigators are working to identify the vehicle and its occupants.
No group has claimed responsibility. A formal FIR has been registered under IPC sections relating to endangering public safety and use of firearms in a public place.
Khan Sir’s Response
Khan Sir — whose full name is Faiz-ul-Hasan Khan — posted a video online within hours of the incident in which he appeared calm but stated clearly that he had received threats prior to the firing. He said the threats were connected to his public commentary on certain political and social issues, without specifying which statements had attracted them.
He appealed to his students not to be afraid and said he would cooperate fully with the police investigation. The video was characteristically direct — Khan Sir has built his following in part on a willingness to say things plainly — and it generated millions of views within hours.
The Political Dimension
It would be naive to pretend there isn’t one. Khan Sir operates in Bihar, a state with a particularly intense political environment, and his commentary on government policies — particularly around education and employment — has sometimes attracted hostile reactions from political circles.
Opposition leaders in Bihar were quick to blame the state government for what they called a “culture of fear” that they said was enabling threats against public figures who speak critically of those in power. The BJP-led state government has pushed back, saying the investigation is proceeding without political interference and will follow the evidence wherever it leads.
Security at the Facility
The incident has prompted questions about security arrangements at the coaching centre, which operates in a busy urban area and sees thousands of students pass through its doors daily. Bihar Police have posted additional personnel at the location pending the investigation’s progress.
Khan Sir has indicated he will continue operating normally. Cancelling classes, he suggested, would be exactly what whoever made the threat was hoping for.
The investigation is at an early stage. Whether this was a targeted act of intimidation or something else entirely — a criminal dispute with no political dimension, a case of mistaken location — will depend on what the CCTV evidence and witness accounts reveal in the coming days.
