India News | BJP Demands Judicial Probe into Impostor Calling Up Bihar DGP Posing as HC Judge

Patna, Oct 20 (PTI) The BJP Thursday demanded a judicial inquiry into phone calls made to Bihar DGP by a conman, who posing as a high court judge sought leniency towards an IPS officer accused of links with liquor traders in the dry state.

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State BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal also asked the Nitish Kumar government to come out with a “white paper” in the matter which came to light earlier this week with the arrest of the alleged conman.

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“The entire truth must be known. We believe that such an audacious fraudster must not have stopped at making calls to the DGP. He must have contacted many other officials, principal secretaries and even the chief secretary. Who knows, he might have made calls to the chief minister himself," Jaiswal told reporters.

The BJP leader said that since the director general of Police S K Singhal was himself trapped, the efficacy of the police in cracking the case has become suspect.

“The DGP might even have tried to oblige the conman, believing him to be a high court judge. This also raises question marks on the state police chief's professional competence and integrity. The matter must, therefore, be investigated by a committee headed by a sitting judge of the High Court,” Jaiswal said.

“Since the racket seems to have been masterminded by a serving IPS officer, who may have been well connected, the state government must also bring out a white paper on the sordid episode. The credibility of the state police is in tatters because of a dismal law and order situation and such scandals make the matters only worse,” he added.

IPS officer Ashish Kumar, against whom an FIR is pending for alleged collusion with liquor mafia while he was the Gaya senior superintendent of police, has been absconding and placed under suspension.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi, who has served as the Bihar deputy chief minister for over a decade, issued a statement advocating a CBI inquiry into the matter.

At his press conference, Jaiswal also charged Nitish Kumar, whom his party had squarely blamed for the Patna High Court's adverse ruling in urban local body polls matter, with splurging public money on the review petition which was heard and disposed of the previous day.

“The government, in effect, withdrew its review petition. If that was all it intended to do, why did it hire an army of Supreme Court lawyers who charge seven-figure sums for every appearance? Of what good is the state's advocate general if he cannot argue a case?” asked Jaiswal.

“The state government filed not just one but over a dozen review petitions, all at the same time. It speaks volumes about the incompetence of the current dispensation. The advocate general, who is often reluctant to put his signature on documents vetted by minister and secretary of the law department, seems more concerned about taking orders from the chief minister's residence”, alleged the BJP leader.

On Wednesday the High Court, which had on October 4 declared as illegal the quotas for extremely backward classes in the state's urban local bodies, agreed to the state government's plea that fresh polls, with reservations in place, be allowed after a report to the effect was obtained from a statutory commission set up for the very purpose.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)