Ten days before the massacre, the Bhumihars of Afsar village in central Bihar were involved in killing of eight people from the backward castes.
[3] Over 50 armed men dressed in paramilitary uniforms entered after midnight and opened fire on 15 people sleeping on a terrace.
"[3]The root of the caste tension lay in the election of Aruna Devi, wife of Akhilesh Singh, as Member of Legislative Assembly for the region.
[1] The incident which took place at Afsar village made Ranvir Sena, a militant organisation of Bhumihar Brahmins to perpetrate the "Mianpur carnage", in which 35 people most of them belonging to Yadav community and some of the Dalits were killed.
The Sena's action was a consequence of growing anxiety among Bhumihar Brahmins who were victims of both Afsar and Senari massacre.
Senari was a village just 10 km away from the Mianpur in which 34 people of Bhumihar community were killed a year before the Afsar incident by Maoist Communist Centre.
[5] According to an Indian Express report, Rashtriya Janata Dal government was selective in visiting the place of massacre.
[6] The Massacre at Afsar (Nawada) was also followed by large-scale rioting by Bhumihar youths, who thrashed the windows of vehicles passing through the nearby highway and pelted them with stones.