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Bihar DGP orders arrest of RJD MP

Director General of Bihar Police K A Jacob has ordered the arrest of the Rashtriya Janata Dal Member of Parliament Anwar-ul-Haque on the alleged charge of assaulting policemen on duty and getting a medicine shop-owner of Sitamarhi, Mahesh Yadav, freed.

The order came after an inquiry by the Deputy Inspector General of Police Shreedhar Sharma.

Jacob's order came after a near revolt in the ranks of junior police officials of Sitamarhi. The Bihar Police Association even threatened to take the matter to the streets if the MP was not arrested.

Though police top brass tried to sort out the matter, pressure from the lower ranks and a warrant of arrest from the local court forced the DGP to order an inquiry.

Initially, Jacob told the press: "Anwar-ul-Haque has given me a petition claiming that he has been framed. Hence, it is perfectly normal to ask a senior officer to investigate the case."

After the inquiry, the DIG said the MP would be arrested once he was back from Delhi, or the warrant of arrest would be sent to the Delhi police.

However, Haque denied any involvement stating that he was not even in Sitamarhi on November 19 - the day police allege the incident took place - and that he was at a function in his parliamentary constituency Seohar.

He claimed that he left for Delhi the same evening to attend Parliament the following day.

However, he charged the police of arresting Mahesh Yadav simply to extort money.

Jacob conceded that Mahesh Yadav was arrested for a minor offence. Curiously, a case was lodged against Mahesh on November 20, a day after the incident, charging him with dealing in sub-standard and spurious medicine.

Meanwhile, resentment is brewing in Sitamarhi and Seohar against the police action.

Local people allege that police indulge in extortion and arrest people on flimsy grounds. Many of them do not find any fault in the MP's action of getting an innocent person released.

Anwal-ul-Haque is a new entrant to the RJD. Earlier, he was in the Congress and the Janata Dal (United).

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