The supreme court on Monday sought the Bihar government's stand on a plea for a CBI probe into the police firing on a group of villagers in Forbesganj in June that left five persons dead.

A bench of justices R M Lodha and J S Khehar issued notice to the state government, seeking its response to the plea for CBI probe into the incident.

The plea was made by a civil society, Association for Protection of Civil Rights, alleging that the state government was protecting the police officials who had resorted to the firing at unarmed villagers.

The non-governmental organisation also pleaded the court to direct the state government to pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the family members of each of the deceased and Rs 5 lakh each to those injured in the police firing.

The residents of Rampur and Bhajanpur villages under Forbesganj block in Araria district had come out after Friday prayer to protest against blockade of the connecting road between the two villages for a factory when the firing took place.