BJP Panel Set Up To Probe Bihar Leader's Death During Protest Against Nitish Govt Submits Report

BJP earlier constituted a four-member committee to probe into the death of a party leader during Patna teachers' recruitment protest. The Committee submitted its report to JP Nadda on Wednesday.

The four-member BJP committee constituted to probe the death of a party leader during a protest march against the Bihar government's teacher recruitment policy submitted its report to party president JP Nadda on Wednesday. The four-member committee included former Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das and three MPs -- Manoj Tiwari, Vishnu Dayal Ram and Sunita Duggal.

The BJP team visited Patna and collected information on the incident before submitting the report.

BJP has claimed its Jehanabad district general secretary Vijay Singh succumbed to injuries following a "brutal" lathi charge by police on July 13. Thousands of BJP workers had gathered in Patna to attend a march to the Bihar Assembly, which was intercepted by the state police.

Dozens of BJP leaders and workers, including MPs Janardhan Singh Sigriwal and Ashok Yadav, were also injured during the protest march.

However, the district administration refuted the allegations, saying "no injury marks were found on his body". The district administration said Vijay Kumar Singh, a resident of Jehanabad, was "found unconscious by the roadside", PTI reported. The administration also added that Singh was taken to PMCH, the state's largest government hospital, for treatment but he succumbed later.

The incident stoked a controversy, with the BJP training guns at the Bihar government over alleged police brutality.

Taking to Twitter, senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said, “Arrested by Bihar police in Patna, Jehanabad dist GS Vijay Kumar Singh died in brutal police lathi charge.”

BJP president JP Nadda tweeted, saying the lathi charge on BJP workers was a result of the failure and indignation of the state government. “The Grand Alliance government is attacking democracy to save the citadel of corruption. To save the person who has been charge-sheeted, the chief minister of Bihar has even forgotten his morality,” he wrote.

Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan wondered if Bihar was currently under an “undeclared emergency”.

Bihar has recently been rocked by protests by several teachers as well as applicants following a decision by the Nitish Kumar government to do away with the domicile clause for applicants.