Officials get clean chit for checking Rabri’s vehicle

The Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) on Tuesday gave a clean chit to the Saran district administration for checking former chief minister Rabri Devi’s vehicle at Sonepur in the early hours on Sunday.

The Bihar chief electoral officer (CEO) on Tuesday gave a clean chit to the Saran district administration for checking former chief minister Rabri Devi’s vehicle at Sonepur in the early hours on Sunday.

HT Image

Rabri, who is the RJD candidate from Saran, was returning from campaigning when her vehicle was stopped and checked at Shivbachan chowk on the Sonepur-Patna national highway.

Bihar CEO Ajay V Nayak said, “Prima-facie the Saran district administration is not at fault. The EC, too, will concur with it.”

Rabri’s husband Lalu Prasad, who was following her vehicle, had prevented officials from checking the car. Prasad is also alleged to have misbehaved with the raiding party. The EC had sought a report from the Saran DM over the incident. The DM submitted the report on Monday.

Following the incident, Rabri had lodged a complaint with the poll. She had alleged that standard operating procedures were not followed during vehicle-checking, which was done as part of EC’s guideline on expenditure monitoring.