Patna, Oct. 16: The state is planning to invoke the National Security Act (NSA) to interrogate some RJD and CPI leaders for allegedly whipping up frenzy and vandalising public property following the recent recovery of a youth's body in Madhubani.
Police's refusal to hand over the headless body, purportedly of Prashant Jha (17), to his relatives in Madhubani on October 12 triggered violence leading to the death of two students in police firing.
Sources said the police in Madhubani had gathered "concrete evidence" suggesting that a senior CPI leader and some RJD workers had allegedly incited Prashant's parents, relatives and some residents to go on the rampage after the security personnel refused to hand over the headless body to them.
A report submitted to the headquarters said "some trouble-makers" had misled Prashant's parents to reject the police's plea about the body that, according to the post-mortem findings, was of a man aged around 25 years. Prashant and his girlfriend were found at Mehrauli in New Delhi yesterday.
The sources said the government might constitute a Special Investigation Team on the lines of the one formed to probe into the attack on chief minister Nitish Kumar during the Adhikar Yatra in Khagaria on September 27.
Sources close to Nitish told The Telegraph that the CM was under pressure from some police officers and political aides to invoke NSA and other laws to drive home a message that the unrest in Madhubani was a conspiracy to tarnish the image of the government.
Sanjay Jha, a JD(U) leader from the Madhubani region, said the police had conclusive evidence suggesting that a CPI leader and a former MLA and some RJD cadres had gone on the rampage, torching the Bansopatti hospital and the Madhubani block office.
Nitish has described the unrest manifesting in various parts of the state as a "handiwork" of political opponents. In response to if the government would sue his political rivals trying to generate an impression of "anarchy" in the state, he said: "I warn the denizens to be alert against people carrying rumour-spreading virus. Law will take its course against them."
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Abdul Bari Siddiqui rejected the allegation that the RJD was involved in the incident. He said: "Even the chief minister had described the unrest and police firing as an administrative failure ahead of the recovery of Prashant and the girl."
Motipur clash
A mob clashed with police following the recovery of the body of Bablu Sah, 18, near Gandak Project guest house at Purani Bazaar in Muzaffarpur town, around 105km northwest of Patna, on Tuesday morning. As the news spread, hundreds of people blocked H-28 at Motipur Chowk. When the police arrived to take the body for post-mortem, the protesters attacked them. Sources said 25 of them were injured in police lathicharge.