No role of state govt: ADG Police, Patna on RSS member's detail row

ADG of Police, Patna GS Gangwar on Wednesday said that the letter seeking details of RSS members in the state was issued by a Superintendent of Police in his capacity and the government had no role to play in it.

"We carried out an investigation of the letter circulating in the media. It was found out that it was sent by SP, no other officer had any knowledge of the letter. The Home Ministry, the government or any other official in the police department had no part to play in this, there were no directions from them either," Gangwar said at a press conference here.

Earlier, in a letter dated May 28, SP (Special Branch) Patna had directed Deputy SPs to "collect names, addresses, phone number and professions of the office bearers of RSS residing in their areas "within a week".

In the letter, the SP had also asked to give information related to other right-wing organisations supporting RSS.

Gangwar added that there were problems in the method in which information had been sought out by the concerned official as it could pose a security threat.

"The method which was used to ask for information by the DSP will be investigated later as it is not the right way. Even I had no knowledge of the letter, I got to know about it through media. This could have posed a security threat," Gangwal said.

Gangwar added that there were some inputs due to which the information was sought and added that an investigation has been initiated into the manner of seeking information by the official.

"There were some specific inputs that there was a threat to RSS members, however, the way in which it was handled is not correct. Proper action will be taken against the SP who was holding power at the time when the letter was issued," he said.

He went on to add, "We will first approach the then SP for his reply as currently he is not in that post and is in training. We will then continue our investigation in the matter.