Patna: Bowing to the wishes of the family of slain journalist Rajdeo Ranjan, the Bihar government on Monday decided to recommend a CBI probe into his killing.
"A decision has been taken to hand over the inquiry into the killing of a journalist of a vernacular daily at Siwan to CBI at the request of his family. After completing the formalities, the recommendation for CBI investigation would be made today itself," Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said.
The Chief Minister said no effort has been spared in investigating the killing of Rajdeo Ranjan, the Siwan district bureau chief of Hindi daily 'Hindustan', and in the Gaya road rage incident in which a youngster was shot dead allegedly by the son of a ruling JD(U) MLC.
On the road rage incident in Gaya, Kumar said," When I saw in the media the (journalist's) family's demand for a CBI probe, I personally asked the DGP to send a police team to acquaint the family with probe (being conducted by the state police).
"Patna Zonal IG N H Khan met the family and they expressed satisfaction over the inquiry. We are prepared that if they are not satisfied, a CBI probe would be recommended in the Gaya incident too," he said.
"None should have any doubt that anybody would be protected in any crime. Under my government, nobody is above the law irrespective of party affiliation or social standing. We believe in the principle that police should conduct investigation in any crime independently and nobody should interfere in the probe process," Kumar said.
He also asked the media to behave responsibly and share information or clue, if any, with the probe officials in the two cases.
When asked about jailed RJD strongman Mohammad Shahabuddin's alleged involvement in the murder of the the journalist on May 13 and progress of police investigation in the case, the chief minister handed over the loud speaker to the Director General of Police P K Thakur, who was present, to answer the questions.
Kumar referred to the suspension of JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi, whose son Rocky Yadav is alleged to have killed 19-year-old student Aditya Sachdeva in the road rage incident, and recovery of liquor bottles from her Gaya house following which an arrest warrant was issued against her.
