BJP attacks CM Nitish over worker's death: ‘Ever since he became friends with'

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday hit out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the death of a party worker, alleging that the JD(U) leader has "adopted the methods" of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee since the two became "friends".

The BJP claimed that the party's general secretary of Jehanabad's unit, Vijay Kumar Singh, succumbed to injuries sustained in a police lathi charge during protests against the teacher recruitment policy and other issues.

Condemning the police action, BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad claimed that the party worker died as a result of being crushed and manhandled by the police. "I condemn the attack by Nitish Kumar's police force on BJP workers in Bihar...Nitish Kumar since you befriended Mamata Banerjee, you have adopted her methods," Prasad said.

"Our workers died in the crowding and handling of people. Their limbs were broken. What do they demand? For Tejashwi Yadav who is accused of fraud to be removed from his post...I condemn it...People will answer you,” he added. However, Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Rajiv Mishra told a press conference that the BJP worker was not injured in the police lathi charge.

"Preliminary investigation and examination of CCTV footage from various locations revealed that Vijay Kumar Singh, who hailed from Jehanabad, never reached the Dak Bungalow roundabout where the lathi attack took place," Mishra said late on Thursday.

"In one of the footage, Singh and two persons accompanying him are seen moving in the Chajju Bagh area along Gandhi Maidan-Chajju Bagh Road at 1:22 pm. All three were interacting and he was in a healthy condition. The rickshaw on which he was later taken to a nearby hospital, he was also seen in the same video at 1:27 p.m. Later, eyewitnesses told the police that Singh was seen lying on the road near an electrical transformer, about 50 meters from the CCTV camera," Mishra said. The lathi charge did not take place in the area, he said, adding that no external signs of injury were found on Singh's body.

"The two persons accompanying Singh also told the police that they did not go to the Dak Bungalow roundabout. When they came to know that the roundabout had been barricaded by the police, they decided not to go there. After that, Singh's friends took him to a nearby hospital in a rickshaw. We believe that the rickshaw puller may have taken five to six minutes to reach a nearby hospital. The incident of his fainting may have occurred between 1:23 pm and 1:27 pm. The footage also revealed that no police officers were seen around Singh or the rickshaw," reads the declaration.

"There was no scene of any stampede in the footage taken from the Chajju Bagh area. Full normal traffic movement was seen in the area. The exact cause of his death can be ascertained only after the post-mortem report," the SSP said. He said a total of 59 people were detained in connection with the BJP protest march, but all were later released.