PATNA: Two police inspectors and nine other policemen were placed under suspension in Bihar on Monday on charge of deficiencies in duty after a probe confirmed that a minor boy was sent to jail three months ago on fake charges. The 14-year-old boy was framed in a motorcycle theft case allegedly because he had refused to give some policemen vegetables free of cost at his shop in Patna's Mahatma Gandhi Nagar.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had ordered a probe four days ago after the boy's father approached him. While the probe is yet to corroborate the charge that the cops framed the boy, the FIR was found to have grave discrepancies and the cops involved did not discharge their duty properly in the entire episode, said IGP (Patna range) Nayyar Hasnain Khan, who led the probe team.
"Investigations have established that the boy was less than 18 years of age and was wrongfully sent to jail. I have issued instructions to shift him to a remand home," said Khan to reporters. While the boy, the son of a vegetable seller, was picked up from his home, the FIR showed otherwise. "Nothing was recovered from his possession at the time of his arrest, but the FIR shows that he was found with a motorcycle. The FIR is a glaring case of shoddy action," added Khan.
Based on the findings of the probe, orders were issued for the suspension of the SHOs of Agamkuan and Bypass police stations in Patna - Kamakhya Singh and Rajendra Prasad Singh - and Munna Kumar Verma, the acting SHO of Agamkuan at the time of the boy's arrest. Policemen who were in a raiding team that had arrested the boy and two others in the motorcycle theft case were also placed under suspension. They included four sub-inspectors and two constables posted at Agamkuan police station; and a sub-inspector and three constables at Bypass police station.
"SDPO of Patna City, Hari Mohan Shukla, has been issued a show-cause notice for failing to take action even after the boy's parents met him with their complaint months ago," said Khan, adding that he has asked Patna SSP Manu Maharaaj to submit a report after a further probe. The minor boy's father, Sukhan Paswan, had alleged that his son was arrested on March 19 evening merely because he had objected to giving vegetables to the cops for free.