The crowd chose to torch my vehicle: Bihar minister

Police started a lathicharge after Rohtas SP Chandan Kushwaha was hit by a plastic chair thrown by the public. While the SP and the minister hid inside the stage to escape stone pelting, some people vented their ire by torching the minister’s vehicle.

Bihari, who was hit by a stone on his head, blamed his department secretary for “poor security arrangements and crowd management”.

He said, “I told my department secretary about the Tara Chandi function a month ago. But the district administration was informed only 24 hours ago, leading to this chaos. There were several vehicles parked but I wonder why the crowd chose to torch my vehicle. Police should find out if there was any foul play and if I was the target”.

Rohtas SP Kushwaha, however, said: “No individual was the target and there were several dignitaries attending the function. It may be because of arrangement problems but we are trying find out if antisocial elements provoked the crowd”. Police have arrested six people and have lodged a case against 500 unknown people.

Bihar DGP P K Thakur said Wednesday that Sasaram incident would be probed. “We have asked Rohtas SP to submit detailed report on the incident,” said the DGP.

Local BJP MLA Jawahar Prasad, who also attended the function, said there had been obvious security lapses.