M A I N   N E W S

Siwan DM, SP transferred
RJD MP has his way; police revolt feared
Santosh Jha

Patna, March 19
The Rabri government on Sunday decided to save its political life at the cost of the administrative well being of the state. It handed over marching orders to the Siwan SP, DM, DSP and DIG, Saran Range in a late night administrative reshuffle. The RJD boss Laloo Prasad Yadav has made his intentions clear, as the government has virtually declared the SP, Mr B S Meena, and the DSP, Mr Sanjeev Kumar “guilty of plotting the murder” of the controversial RJD MP of Siwan Md Shahabuddin. The powerful MP finally prevailed, as he has in the past and as was suspected. The decision is likely to have far-reaching and damaging impact on the already doomed police and bureaucratic set up in Bihar. A backlash from cops is feared.

The Chief Secretary, Mr Mukund Prasad, said the government had decided to hold an inquiry into the Siwan episode by a Revenue Board member, Mr S N Biswas. The DGP, Mr R R Prasad informed that non-bailable warrant of arrest had been issued against Md Shahabuddin for the charges of armed rioting. The irrepressible MP has so far remained at large and while talking to a local daily here on Sunday on the mobile phone from an ‘unknown destination’, demanded that Siwan be handed over to the Army and the Bihar Policemen’s Association be declared illegal. The supporters of the MP are set to lodge cases against the SP and DSP for attempting to murder the MP. The Army has been alerted and more paramilitary battalions have been dispatched to prevent ‘cop retaliation’.

Meanwhile, the five-member delegation sent by the Chief Minister, Rabri Devi yesterday, comprising five cabinet ministers, has said that the police action was “aimed at the murder of the MP”. They however gave a clean chit to the DM, though transferred along with the SP and the DSP. The team of ministers that effectively came to Siwan as government ‘probe team’, chose not to speak of the Siwan MP’s threat to kill the SP and others but categorically lambasted the ‘police brutality’ on ‘innocent’ villagers. The probe team maintained that the police had ‘indiscriminately killed the innocents’ in MP’s village. Meanwhile, the RJD legislators have also came to the rescue of the MP seeking the suspension of the Siwan SP and dismissal of the DSP. It is to be mentioned here that there are 30 cases lodged against the controversial MP in the last 15 years in Siwan town police station and others.

There is already enough discontent in the police fraternity over the government approach towards the Siwan episode, the shifting of the SP and other police official may make the “rebellious constabulary” more furious. An IPS officer in the state capital on the condition of anonymity said, “why this facade of probe by a Revenue Board member? When the cabinet rank ministers have already publicly categorised the cops as rebels and the SP-DSP as plotters of murder how can one expect the probe to be neutral?