Complaint against Nitish, Tejashwi in Patna court over lathi-charge on BJP workers

A complaint was lodged in a court in Patna against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his deputy Tejashwi Yadav and four others in connection with the baton charge on a BJP procession in the city earlier this week.

The complaint, in which Patna's District Magistrate and Senior Superintendent of Police have also been named among the accused, has been filed on Saturday by Krishna Singh Kallu, a political activist who had recently joined the BJP.

The petition has been filed in Patna Civil Court through advocate Sunil Kumar Singh who told reporters, "We have prayed for trial of the accused against various IPC sections including 302 (murder) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt)."

Singh alleged, "The procession was peaceful, yet the police took recourse to lathi-charge upon instructions from higher-ups, including CM and Deputy CM, and one BJP worker Vijay Singh succumbed to injuries." The BJP alleged that its Jehanabad district general secretary Vijay Singh died because of injuries sustained in a "brutal" lathi-charge by the police during the party's 'Vidhan Sabha march' on Thursday.

The administration, however, claimed that CCTV footages showed that the deceased was not at Dak Bungalow crossing when "mild" use of force was resorted to and doctors at the hospital, where he breathed his last, found no injury marks on his body.