Politically divided bureaucracy and police aiding crime in Bihar: Sushil Modi

Senior BJP leader said Sushil Kumar Modi said the bureaucracy in Bihar was divided between chief minister Nitish Kumar, who also headed the JD(U), and RJD chief Lalu Prasad and working at cross purposes.

Former Bihar deputy chief minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday said the law and order situation in the state had deteriorated as two main partners in the ruling Grand Alliance were “trying to manage the bureaucracy and police at the same time”.

Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi meeting the family members of slain Motihari trader Indrajit Jaiswal on Wednesday. (Madnakar/HT Photo)

Modi, who was in East Champaran to meet victims of crime, mainly traders, said, “Today, we have a situation where the bureaucracy is divided between chief minister Nitish Kumar, who also headed the JD(U), and RJD chief Lalu Prasad and working at cross purposes. Due to this, runaway crime cannot be controlled.”

Even the overdue transfers and postings of bureaucrats and police officers were not being undertaken because of this, he added.

Crime, Modi said, would be controlled if the chief minister cleared his stand on graft and ‘benami’ properties of Lalu Prasad and his family and not compromise on crime and corruption as per his stated objective of good governance.

Modi, who met family members of trader Indrajit Jaiswal who was recently shot dead, came down heavily on the administration, saying the district magistrate and the superintendent of police “have been given free hand to loot”.

He said the murder of Jaiswal had unleashed a sense of fear in the business community. In the last one year, six persons had been killed by extortionists in East Champaran, but the district police had failed to track any of the criminals involved, he said.

READ: Nitish derailing development train by joining hands with Lalu: Sushil

Modi said like in other cases, police had tried to divert the public by linking most of the cases to land disputes. “Such is the situation, that business community members have again revived talks of migrating to other states for safety,” he added.

Modi said recent crime indices suggested that north Bihar districts, especially, East Champaran, Begusarai and Samastipur, had witnessed a sharp increase in crime. He said even a woman DSP has complained that she was facing threat from a legislator she had booked.

Modi also visited a medicine shop at Balua Chowk, whose proprietor Biru Jaiswal was shot at by criminals when he resisted a loot attempt.