Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar yesterday said his government was ready to hand over the murder case of Siwan journalist Rajdeo Ranjan to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
“We have learnt that the victim’s family wants a CBI inquiry. We are deciding to hand over the investigation over to the CBI,” Nitish Kumar told reporters in the state capital Patna.
The chief minister also said that the investigation is being carried out with “highest diligence” and police will file a charge-sheet soon.
“The person who has committed the crime will get the strictest punishment under the law,” the chief minister said.
Nitish Kumar’s remarks came after people across the state took out protests against the murder of the reporter.
Ranjan, Siwan bureau chief of Hindi newspaper Hindustan, which is part of the HT Media, was shot dead on Friday in a busy market near the Station Road in the district town.
Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for terming the killing of the journalist and of a teenager in Gaya earlier as “return of jungle raj” in the state, Nitish Kumar said: “In the last elections those who wanted to get votes in the name of ‘jungle raj’ were defeated. Now they don’t have any issues to target. That’s why they are comparing everything to ‘jungle raj’.”
The chief minister asked people if they had suggestions on any other steps that can be taken. “I would like to ask people what else can be done, because if something else can be done, we would very much like to do it.”
He said the killing of the journalist was an attack on him.
“I have said earlier too. Anyone can commit a crime. But the law has to take its own course.”
Siwan Superintendent of Police Saurav Kumar Shah said nearly a dozen suspects, including Munshi Mian, had been detained.
According to police, Munshi Mian was detained from Pratappur, the village of jailed former MP Mohamed Shahabuddin.
In New Delhi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who also holds the Information and Broadcasting Minister portfolio, demanded an independent and “credible” probe.
“It is a very unfortunate incident. I think it is an opportunity for an independent probe,” Jaitley said.
“I hope Nitish Kumar will realise that in all fairness that it’s a kind of an attack in which the nature of probe itself will add to its credibility.”
Another central minister said “political murders and lawlessness” have become the order of the day in Bihar and demanded President’s Rule in the state.
“There has been a constitutional breakdown in the state,” Ram Vilas Paswan said in New Delhi.
“Political murders and lawlessness are common features in Bihar these days. Under the given situation, it appears as if select politicians are involved in these incidents. That is why police cannot conduct fair investigation,” he added.
Paswan, who is also president of the Lok Janshakti Party, hit out at Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Lawlessness, particularly cases of rape and robbery, has “crossed all records” since the Grand Alliance government came to power in Bihar in November 2015, the food and public distribution minister said.
He said a LJP delegation met Home Minister Rajnath Singh and President Pranab Mukherjee last week and handed over a memorandum to demand President’s Rule in Bihar.
Meanwhile in the neighbouring Jharkhand, two people have been arrested in connection with the killing of TV journalist Akhilesh Singh.
“We have arrested two people as part of our investigation into the murder of the journalist,” Chatra Superintendent of Police Anjani Jha said.
Asked about motive behind the murder, Jha said: “We are interrogating and will later disclose the details.”
Indradeo Yadav alias Akhilesh Singh, a local television reporter in Chatra district, was shot dead on Thursday when he was returning home.
The killing has caused widespread outrage, occurring as it did a day before Ranjan was murdered in Bihar.
Journalists’ associations across the country have condemned the killings and demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits.
Akhilesh Singh is the fourth journalist to be killed since the creation of Jharkhand in November 2000, according to records kept by media watchdog agencies like the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
None of the previous three murders has been solved or the culprits brought to justice. A few people who were arrested managed to walk away free later.