Nitish orders judicial probe into Kahalgaon police firing

Patna, Jan 19 (UNI) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today ordered a judicial probe into the Kahalgaon police firing and suspended the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and the Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) there on charge of dereliction of duty.

Taking a strong exception to the police firing, twice since yesterday in which three people were killed, Mr Kumar ordered the probe after a detailed report was submitted to him by Principal Home Secretary Afzal Amanullah and Additional Director General of Bihar Police Abhayanand on their return from Kahalgaon, about 200 km from here in Bhagalpur district tonight, official sources here informed.

They said after holding a high-level meeting with senior state government officials, the Chief Minister also ordered the suspension of Kahalgaon SDO Satyendra Nath Srivastav and DSP Birendra Nath Jha, who were found prima-facie responsible for failing to contain the mob violence.

Earlier, Mr Kumar had announced an ex-gratia of Rs one lakh each to the next of kin of the three deceased.

Police opened fire after a violent mob at Kahalgaon turned violent yesterday and today while protesting against the daily power cuts for long in the sub-divisional town for the past one year and demanding uninterrupted supply.

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