Key faces among 63 BJP leaders booked for Patna protests

On Thursday, BJP had taken out its prescheduled march to Vidhan Sabha in protest against the new teacher recruitment policy in Bihar, alleged corruption and other issues. The march started from Gandhi Maidan. As it reached Dak Bungalow intersection, police used water cannons, tear gas shells and lathi charge to disperse them.

The Patna police has booked 63 BJP leaders, including the party’s Bihar unit chief and several other prominent faces, and 7000-8000 unidentified people in connection with the protests in the state capital on Thursday, officials said.

Bihar BJP president Samrat Choudhary speaks to reporters in Patna on Friday. (Santosh Kumar/HT)

Some of the charges pressed against them in the FIR (first information report) are road blockade, stone pelting, entry in restricted areas without permission, obstruction of government work and manhandling of police personnel.

The FIR, lodged on the statement of deputy magistrate Shashibhusan Kumar, names former union minister Ramkripal Yadav, former deputy chief ministers Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi, Aurangabad MP Sushil Kumar Singh, former Bihar ministers Nitin Navin, Shahnawaz Hussain and Mangal Pandey, besides state BJP president Samrat Choudhary. 

On Thursday, BJP had taken out its prescheduled march to Vidhan Sabha in protest against the new teacher recruitment policy in Bihar, alleged corruption and other issues. The march started from Gandhi Maidan. As it reached Dak Bungalow intersection, police used water cannons, tear gas shells and lathi charge to disperse them. 

During the protest, general secretary of BJP’s Jehanabad unit Vijay Kumar Singh died.

While BJP has alleged that he died after being injured in police lathi-charge, Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rajiv Mishra has said the person was not injured in police lathi-charge.

“The district administration granted permission for a meeting to be organised in Gandhi Maidan. No permission was granted for Vidhan Sabha march. The protesters broke barricades, threw chilli powder and pelted stones on the police to reach the central point. Police used mild force when the protesters took law into their hands,” Mishra told reporters on Thursday evening, adding that Vijay Singh never reached Dak Bungalow where the lathi-charge happended.  

According to CCTV footage made available by the police, Vijay Singh, along with two others, was seen on way to Chhaju Bagh area from Gandhi Maidan around 1:22 pm in a healthy condition. “The CCTV footage also captured a rickshaw in which Vijay was taken to a nearby hospital around 1:27 pm. The autopsy was videographed. We are awaiting the report to ascertain the cause of his death,” said the SSP. 

According to Dr IS Thakur, superintendent of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), said the man was brought to the hospital in an unconscious state around 2 pm. “No external injury was found on his body and the doctor shifted him to the ICU and put him on a ventilator, but he could not be saved. After autopsy, the body of Vijay Singh was handed over to his family members,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Singh’s body was taken to his house in Jehanabad around 11.50 pm on Thursday. On Friday, it was kept in the party office in Jehanabad and later a funeral procession was taken out in the town.

Later in the day, he was cremated at Fatuha in rural Patna where former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi and senior BJP leaders, including Samrat Choudhary, Vijay Sinha and Ramkripal Yadav, were present.