BJP forms panel to probe party leader death in police lathi charge in Patna

BJP national president JP Nadda constituted a four-member inquiry committee to probe the death of party leader Vijay Singh allegedly during the lathi charge by the police in Patna on Thursday.

The four-member inquiry committee includes former Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das, and three MPs - Manoj Tiwari, Vishnu Dayal Ram and Sunita Duggal.

The members of the probe panel will visit the Bihar capital, collect information and send a report to the BJP national president, the party informed through an official statement.

The BJP claimed that Vijay Singh died after sustaining grievous injuries in the police lathi charge while the party members were carrying a protest march to the Bihar Assembly against the government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

At the protest rally, the BJP put forward a raft of demands, including an amendment to the teachers' recruitment policy in the state.

The party alleged that during the protest, the police lobbed tear gas shells and turned the water canon on protesting BJP leaders and workers to stop them from marching to the Assembly.

Earllier, on Friday, Union Minister Nityanand Rai came down heavily on the Bihar government over the alleged police crackdown on the BJP protest, comparing the Bihar chief minister with Brigadier General Reginald Dyer, who ordered the infamous Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919, and demanded his resignation.

The Union minister claimed that Bihar was in the grip of "Jungle Raj 3", adding that CM Nitish Kumar was responsible for the death of the party leader.

"Our workers were protesting peacefully to demand a change in the policy for the recruitment of teachers. The police crackdown on us, at the behest of the state government, was barbaric. It could only be compared to the Jalianwala Bagh massacre on the watch of General Dyer, or the atrocities committed at the behest of (West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee and the Congress," he added.