Bihar SHO accused of killing suspect roams free, no cover-up says SSP

GAYA: Nearly three weeks after the alleged custodial thrashing of a criminal-case accused and his subsequent death in the hospital, Brij Bihari Pandey, the then SHO of the Magadh Medical college police station facing charges under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code roams free, thereby giving credence to the perception that cover-up operation to shield the officer accused of murder is on.
Strongly refuting the cover up perception, SSP Garima Malik said that the question of protecting the accused simply did not arise. More important than arresting the accused was the collection of evidence to pin him down in the court. The case IO was collecting strong evidence and action will follow evidence as per law.
The SSP also said that the failure of the medical board that conducted the postmortem to specify the actual cause of death has also come in the way. The medical board reserved its judgment on death cause and preferred to wait for the viscera report, thereby slowing the investigation in the all-important case.
Asked if other murder case accused too are given the same long rope, the SSP said that legal provisions and procedure have to be followed. Moreover, the Human Rights Commission too was monitoring the case and as such hushing the case up was not that easy, said Malik.
Sujit Kumar, the 23 years old young man arrested from Kaler village on 11 December died in the ANMMCH two days later allegedly due to custodial thrashing and torture. The dead man's family members registered a complaint against the Magadh Medical College police station SHO in this connection.
As per available records, Sujit Kumar did not have a criminal record and but for a village dispute in which Sujit was alleged to have assaulted a co-villager, no criminal case was instituted against him. In the assault case too, Sujit got bail from the local court and the bail was subsequently cancelled due to his non appearance in the court.
During investigation incriminating evidence against the SHO surfaced as, an Alto car bearing registration No. BR 02 P 4012 was originally registered in the name of Prakash Ranjan, alias Nippu, resident of Kaler village of the Magadh Medical College police station area. Nippu Singh transferred the car in the name of the SHO's wife. Nippu, it may be recalled, was involved in a dispute with Sujit Singh, the 23 years old co villager who died in police custody on Sunday.
The deceased villager's family members alleged that the SHO got the car as bribe to help Nippu in framing his opponent/enemy against whom Nippu earlier lodged an assault case in the police station.
Notwithstanding the SSP's claim, the record of Gaya police in dealing with cops accused of criminal offence does not inspire much confidence. The file relating to another alleged custodial killing in the Civil Lines police station went missing. A head constable, who, a few months back, allegedly killed a woman near police lines was allowed to escape after depositing the weapon of assault in the armoury.