Excise SI suspended again for ‘falsely’ implicating JD(U) neta

 Patna: Excise sub-inspector (SI) Deepak Kumar Singh, who had arrested Harnaut JD(U) president Chandradeep Sen in Nalanda district on August 30 for violating the prohibition law, has been suspended again for his alleged conspiracy to falsely implicate the ruling party neta in that case. The excise sleuths had recovered 168 bottles of country liquor from Sen’s house at village Lohra under Harnaut police station area in Nalanda district.
Sen’s wife Madhumita Devi is the mukhiya of Lohra panchayat. She had defeated the wife of informer in the case, Sumrendra Singh, by only 24 votes.
Earlier, the SI was suspended on September 3 for a few days after his arrest by Nalanda police, but it was revoked by excise commissioner Aditya Kumar Das with effect from September 7. However, the letter was issued on September 16. The arrest and suspension of Deepak had reportedly irked the then principal secretary of excise and prohibition department, K K Pathak, so much that he proceeded on leave before being asked to report to the general administration department.
Deepak was suspended for the second time after the Patna high court granted bail to Sen on September 19. Sources said department proceedings would be initiated against the SI and he might be dismissed.
Sources said the SI was suspended on September 22 by special excise superintendent Ganesh Prasad after the new principal secretary of excise department, Amir Subhani, gave him written orders in this regard in the light of a joint investigation by Nalanda district magistrate (DM) Thiyagarajan SM and SP Kumar Ashish. Both the officers, in their report, accused the SI of hatching a conspiracy with his informer Sumrendra to falsely implicate Sen, who belongs to chief minister Nitish Kumar’s home district.
The SI and his informer had got bail from the court of Nalanda ADJ-III Rajesh Kumar Pandey on September 6. But the same court had rejected the bail plea of Sen despite the administration’s report in his favour.
On September 2, the DM said, “They feel the JD(U) block president might be innocent after people of his village protested against his arrest. Had it been otherwise, they would not have come out on streets in Sen’s favour.”
The DM, on Tuesday, said investigations were going on in the case.
The excise commissioner, however, declined to comment on Deepak’s suspension. “I have just returned from leave,” he said.