Saran post-poll violence: Another bodyguard of Rabri suspended

The two suspended constables allegedly accompanied Rabri’s daughter Rohini Acharya to Saran without permission from authorities. Acharya is RJD candidate from Saran, where polling was held on May 20.

Another Bihar Police constable, deployed as a bodyguard for Rabri Devi, has been suspended from service for alleged misconduct and violation of service norms in connection with the post-poll violence on May 21 in Saran, where the former chief minister’s daughter, Rohini Acharya, is the RJD candidate.

Police in the area after the post-poll clash in Chapra on May 21, in which an RJD worker was shot dead and two others were injured. (ANI)

“The order to suspend the constable, Mohammad Aftab Alam, was issued late Friday and a departmental inquiry has been initiated against him,” said Vaishali superintendent of police (SP) Harkishore Rai. Alam was a constable with Vaishali police.

On Thursday, Patna police had suspended Jitendra Singh, also a bodyguard of Rabri Devi, after a report was submitted by the Saran police before Patna police chief, officials said.

Quoting from the report, officials said that on May 20, when polling was under way in Saran Lok Sabha constituency, Rohini Acharya was moving around along with her mother bodyguards. Acharya is pitted against sitting BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

Bihar BJP chief and deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary had raised the matter and sought a probe. Subsequently, a police team from Saran arrived at the former CM’s official residence along with CCTV footages and identified the two policemen seen outside a polling station where an altercation took place on the polling day, leading to violence the next day in which an RJD worker was shot dead and two others were injured.

The two bodyguards had travelled to Saran without taking prior permission from competent authorities, a police officer familiar with the matter said, requesting anonymity.

Meanwhile, Saran SP Gaurav Mangla said police have lodged one more FIR with the cyber police station against suspects who uploaded inflammatory posts on social media regarding the incident.

Business establishments remained shut for the fifth consecutive day on Saturday in Chapra town, where the violence had taken place.