new Delhi: Days after a verbal conversation with Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha on the Lakhisarai controversy, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday issued an order appointing Syed Imran Masood as the new Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of the area on the occasion of Holi.
The development comes weeks after the then DSP Ranjan Kumar was removed from his post, following a controversy in Lakhisarai related to a cultural program organized on the occasion of Saraswati Puja, where thousands of people had gathered, violating COVID-19 norms. Were were
Earlier this week, there was a face-off between the Chief Minister and the Speaker in the Bihar Assembly over the issue.
Accusing the Speaker of “unconstitutional conduct”, Kumar alleged that he was trying to interfere in the ongoing investigation in the Lakhisarai case.
“Do you run the house like this? Will you raise questions again and again in the House (on Lakhisarai matter),” he had said in the Bihar Assembly on March 14.
The Speaker removed himself from the chair after the Chief Minister’s remarks.
Conflict:
The local police arrested two people, who were part of the audience, and sent them to jail after a video of a violation of the COVID-19 protocol went viral on social media.
However, the police did not take any action against the organizers of the event and the local officials present there.
Lakhisarai DSP and two SHOs Dilip Kumar Singh (Birupur) and Sanjay Kumar Singh (Barahaiya) were removed from their posts after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs accused them of violating protocol and their alleged misconduct with the Speaker. A privilege notice was sent to ,
The Speaker, who is an MLA from Lakhisarai, alleged that three police officers misbehaved with him when he raised the issue.
Sinha then took a dig at the Bihar government over the alleged wrongful confinement of two persons and demanded action against the three police officers involved in the act.