Tej Pratap Yadav’s private bodyguards spotted inside Bihar assembly premises

A posse of private bodyguards, hired by RJD MLA Tej Pratap Yadav, were on Wednesday found roaming inside the Bihar assembly premises where the budget session is underway.

A posse of private bodyguards, hired by RJD MLA Tej Pratap Yadav, were on Wednesday found roaming inside the Bihar assembly premises where the budget session is underway, prompting the state police chief to order an inquiry into the security breach.

RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav, RJD leader Lalit Kumar Yadav and other leaders on the first day of the budget session in Bihar Assembly, in Patna on Monday. (Santosh Kumar / Hindustan Times)

The mercurial elder son of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, however, defended himself saying “who would provide security to me if I do not take care of my own safety”? The muscle-bound safari-clad private bodyguards were spotted by lens men of news channels and when asked what they were doing inside the campus, well inside the area to which entry is prohibited without valid passes, they replied with a terse “no comments”.

Security personnel posted inside the assembly claimed “there is no security breach. These people had not strayed into the restricted zone”.

However, minutes later Director General of Police Gupteshwar Pandey rushed to the assembly premises where he told reporters “I have asked Patna SSP Garima Mallik to conduct a thorough inquiry into any lapse that may have taken place. Anybody found guilty of dereliction of duty will be punished”.

While exiting the assembly around lunch time, Yadav told reporters “I need to have adequate security for myself. And if I do not make arrangements for the same myself, who will. Would Chief Minister Nitish Kumar provide me with adequate security?”

Incidentally, Yadav had in December 2017 lashed out at the NDA government at the Centre for the scaling down of the security cover of his father currently serving sentences in fodder scam cases with an undignified remark about the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.