PATNA: Hours after RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav took a swipe at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the law-and-order situation, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary on Sunday said those involved in the death of a NEET aspirant in Patna will not be spared.
Talking to media persons, Chaudhary, who also holds the home portfolio, said a special team has already been constituted to crack the case at the earliest.
“State DGP himself is monitoring the investigation. Those involved in her death will not be spared,” he asserted.
The 18-year-old NEET aspirant from Jehanabad was preparing for the examination in Patna. She was found unconscious in a private girls’ hostel in Patna’s Chitragupt Nagar. She died during treatment at a private hospital on January 11 after remaining in a coma for several days.
Earlier in the day, the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, launched a scathing attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the alleged rape and death of the NEET aspirant and other criminal incidents across the state, alleging that the CM’s silence on them was “criminal”.
Claiming that the “funeral procession of Bihar law and order” was complete, the RJD leader wrote on X, “The corrupt system and machine-made double-engine NDA government has become a reliable tool for oppressors, corrupt individuals, criminals, and rapists."
"The insensitive Nitish government in Bihar, formed through vote-buying, is perpetrating atrocities on minor girls, female students, daughters, and women across the entire state. Because these are atrocities sustained by those in power, the government's key figures are maintaining a hypocritical silence on these spine-chilling horrific incidents while pretending to be saints.”
He further stated that in Madhepura, the gang rape and murder of a widow, the heinous gang rape and murder of a four-year-old minor girl in Khagaria, the alleged rape of a NEET aspirant from Jehanabad followed by a brutal murder and an alleged cover-up protected by those in power in Patna — these incidents show that this government has become ruthless, cruel, and inhuman.
“In Patna and Khagaria, when protests erupt to register opposition to these events, the incompetent police resorts to lathi charges against the demonstrators and sends them to jail. On the other hand, it treats criminals and rapists as ‘guests’, going all out to protect and honour them with heart and soul,” he added.
“Let the corrupt police explain: Why were RJD leaders and workers beaten and cases filed against them for demanding the arrest of the criminals who raped and murdered the four-year-old girl in Patna and Khagaria? Is it a crime to share the pain and suffering of victims and fight for their rights? The funeral of Bihar's law and order has already taken place. The honourable Chief Minister's silence is criminal. Even media professionals might not recall when the Chief Minister last engaged in dialogue with the media,” Tejashwi alleged.
He said, “The atrocities and exploitation by this machinery-driven government are increasing day by day. If the power-sponsored and power-protected criminals, along with their directors sitting in the government, do not stop their oppression, people will demonstrate exactly how they wage a fight.”
Meanwhile, state JD(U) president Umesh Kushwaha said the Nitish government had a zero-tolerance policy against crime and accused Tejashwi of spreading misinformation due to a lack of factual knowledge.
“There is rule of law in Bihar and those involved in criminal activities will not be spared,” he added.