RJD questions Jitan Ram Manjhi’s link with murder suspect

The ruling JD(U) and RJD on Sunday attacked former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, pointing fingers at his closeness to two suspects who were arrested by the state police in connection with the murder of two engineers. Urging the state police to investigate links between Mr Manjhi and the arrested couple, JD(U) spokesperson Niraj Kumar claimed, “Baheri block head Munni Devi has links with Jitan Ram Manjhi as they had met several times before Assembly elections.” He also claimed that she had featured in several posters and had even tried to get a ticket from Hindustani Awam Morcha to contest in the Assembly elections.

The police had arrested Munni Devi, Baheri block head, and her husband Sanjay Laldeo from Lahriasarai railway station on Saturday for their alleged involvement with mastermind Santosh Jha. According to sources, Munni Devi and Santosh Jha are brothers and sisters.

Accusing the Opposition “for tarnishing the image of the state,” Bihar deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav asked the BJP and other NDA parties to stop all negative propaganda against the state government. He said, “BJP is resorting to negative propaganda against the state. CM Nitish Kumar’s commitment for development and governance cannot be questioned. Our agenda is to take Bihar forward and we are clear on the issue.” He also asked the BJP whether they would use the word “atank raj” for the country after Pathankot terror attack.

Later, through a tweet, he slammed the BJP for calling Bihar “Jungle Raj,” he said “The police nabbed the culprits of the engineer’s murder. Strangely main culprits are from BJP camps who are defaming Bihar.”

Mr Manjhi, who was on back foot after links between him and Munni Devi surfaced on Sunday, denied all allegations against him and his party and said it was not possible for him to check the background of everyone who attended his political meetings.

“How can anyone know about everybody’s background or their personal life Is it possible I meet so many people during political meetings. The allegation against me is not true,” former CM Manjhi said in Patna on Sunday. Mr Manjhi had earlier threatened to launch state-wide protest against the Nitish Kumar government for their failure in curbing the rising crime graph.