Bihar CM Nitish Kumar
The Bihar government on Friday shifted a deputy SP-rank police officer who was at the centre of the controversy that culminated in the unseemly showdown between Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha earlier this week.
According to a notification issued by the state home department, Ranjan Kumar, the sub-divisional police officer of Lakhisarai, has been transferred to Areraj in East Champaran in the same rank.
He is being replaced by Sayyed Imran Masud, a young 2018-batch IPS officer, currently posted as the SDPO of Danapur in Patna district.
Notably, the speaker, who represents Lakhisarai assembly segment, had been miffed over non-cooperation from police officers, including the deputy SP.
Sinha, who belongs to the BJP, had been railing against police action in a case, involving alleged wrongful arrests, and the RJD-led opposition latched on to his discontent when the budget session began, with the matter being referred to the Privilege Committee.
Lakhisarai falls under Munger Lok Sabha constituency which is represented by Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan, the national president of the chief minister's JD(U).
According to reports in a section of the media, Sinha was particularly irked by the police being strict with his supporters but going easy on those known to be close to the MP.
The chief minister holds the all-important Home portfolio and a section of BJP leaders resent that despite his diminished political clout, he has succeeded in maintaining a "complete control" over the police.
On Monday, the chief minister virtually exploded with rage on the floor of the assembly, taking exception to the Lakhisarai issue being raised inside the House "again and again" and told the speaker that it was against the Constitution.
A chastened speaker refused to take the chair on the following day. The two are later believed to have worked out a rapprochement.
