Cop stabs vigilance constable during raid, held

PATNA: A Bihar police sub-inspector (SI) Nathuni Ram (56) stabbed a constable Mrityunjay Kumar (48) inside Dhanarua police station premises in Patna on Tuesday when a vigilance trap team, whom Kumar was a part, tried to arrest him for allegedly taking bribe of Rs 20,000.
DSP Pratap Shankar Sinha, who led the trap team, said Ram took Rs 20,000 bribe from complainant Ramesh Bhagat inside a room in the police station premises.

“After Bhagat indicated that Ram had accepted the bribe, a vigilance team including the constable went inside. As soon as the constable tried to enter the room, Ram stabbed him using a kitchen knife,” Sinha said adding later Ram was overpowered by other team members. He said the constable was rushed to a private hospital for treatment.

Sinha said an FIR was lodged against Bhagat’s son Rajesh Prasad and the SI had asked for money to favour him in the case during investigation.

He said Bhagat had lodged a complaint with the vigilance investigation bureau on Monday and after an internal inquiry, evidences of demanding bribe to favour Bhagat surfaced following which a trap team was formed and the SI was nabbed.

He said an FIR against Ram was also lodged with the Dhanarua police station for attempt to murder and under other relevant section of Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Dhanarua police station SHO Ajay Kumar Singh said Bhagat’s son Rajesh is a ward councillor and he had lodged an FIR against Satparsa panchayat mukhiya Lembu Paswan for snatching money in the village market area on May 28.

“A counter case was also lodged against Prasad by Paswan for abusing him using demeaning words indicating his cast and thrashing him,” he said adding an ongoing work for drainage and road constructing under seven resolution scheme was the root cause of dispute between the duo.

SHO Singh said supervision was yet to be performed in the case. He said the SI was a native of Bhabhua in Kaimur and had joined service as a constable from where he got promoted upto the rank of SI. He said Ram was set to retire in next three to four years.