The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday alleged that one of its leaders was killed in baton charge by the police during a protest, reported The Indian Express. However, the authorities have not confirmed the reason of the death yet.
Vijay Kumar Singh, 55, died after a protest march against the Bihar government’s teacher recruitment policy. BJP MPs Janardhan Singh Sigriwal and Ashok Yadav and hundreds of members of the party were marching from Gandhi Maidan in Patna towards the Vidhan Sabha when the police intercepted them.
The police baton charged the protestors and used water cannons and tear gas shells to stop the BJP members. Sigriwal and several other BJP members sustained injuries.
The Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government is facing protests after the state Cabinet decided to remove the domicile clause for the applicants, opening up the 1.7 lakh vacancies for all citizens across the country.
The BJP, which has backed this protest, called for the protest march as a show of strength to demand restoring the domicile clause and the reisgnation of Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav.
Following Singh’s death, who was the party’s district secretary general, state BJP president Samrat Choudhary said that his outfit would file a murder case against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, reported The New Indian Express.
“We will continue our agitation against the state government,” Choudhary said. “We have given a call for a Vidhan Sabha march on Friday to protest the police lathicharge.”
Patna Medical College and Hospital superintendent Dr IS Thakur confirmed the death, but claimed that there was no external injury marks on Singh’s body and the exact cause of death would be known after a postmortem, reported The New Indian Express.
He said that Singh was alive when he was brought to the hospital.
Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Rajiv Mishra told The Indian Express that Singh was found unconscious at Chajju Bagh, which is a little far from the Dak Bungalow Chowk where the baton-charge took place. He too claimed that no external injuries was found on Singh’s body.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Vijay Kumar Sinha said that BJP leaders and workers will march to the Raj Bhawan on Friday to protest against the death.
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