Attack on CM: Accused man freed on health grounds

The man who attacked Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar at a public function at Bakhtiarpur in Patna was mentally unstable and has been released on health grounds and handed over to the family, police said.

The man who attacked Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar at a public function at Bakhtiarpur in Patna was mentally unstable and has been released on health grounds and handed over to the family, police said.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar at Bakhtiarpur in Patna on Sunday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

“He is undergoing treatment at the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH),” Patna’s senior superintendent of police Manavjit Singh Dhillon said on Monday.

Additional director general of police (headquarter) J S Gangwar said the man was mentally unstable. “Responsibilities for negligence in CM’s security are being fixed. Necessary action will be taken if lapses in security are found,” he said.

Meanwhile, shopkeepers at Bakhtiarpur, who is also CM Kumar’s home town, downed shutters on Monday in protest against the incident.

A delegation also visited CM’s ancestral house and met Nitish’s brother Satish Kumar and termed the entire incident as shameful. Satish told them the CM had already forgiven the man, identified as Shankar Kumar Verma alias Chhotu, and has asked the Patna administration not to take any action against him.