When chief minister Nitish Kumar spoke at length about rule of law in Bihar, he omitted mentioning Bindi Yadav, the father of alleged road-rage killer Rocky Yadav.
The implementation of the rule of law appears to have been overlooked in case of Bindi. The former chairperson of the Gaya zila parishad was issued an arms licence by the district administration in 1991 when he did not have any criminal case against him.
Since then though he has acquired several against his name.
"Nobody can escape the long arms of law," Nitish said on Monday while explaining his assertion about rule of law in the state and added: "Our responsibility is to bring to book anybody who has committed a crime."
According to police records, Bindi, in his mid-fifties, is involved in at least 19 criminal cases in Bihar and Jharkhand. The charges against him range from attempt to murder to intimidation and extortion. The majority of the cases were lodged in Bihar's Gaya district, where he had unleashed a reign of terror in the early '90s.
But in spite of the growing number of cases against his name, no one bothered to cancel Bindi's arms licence.
Review of arms licence is carried out ahead of every Assembly and parliamentary election. In case of Bindi, at least four such elections were held under the stewardship of Nitish Kumar as chief minister - 2010 and 2015 (Assembly) and 2009 and 2014 (Lok Sabha). Yet, no action was taken about Bindi's arms licence.
His wife, JDU Legislative Council member Manorama Devi, had been given three arms licences, one each for rifle, revolver and a double-barrel gun. Manorama has two criminal cases pending against her with the Chandauti police station in Gaya district.
Senior IPS officer Amitabh Kumar Das said any person having criminal antecedents cannot be issued an arms licence. "I had cancelled all the arms licences of gangster Prahlad Yadav when I was posted as the superintendent of police of Lakhisarai in 2000 on that ground," he told The Telegraph.
Gaya divisional commissioner Lian Kunga said he had sought a detailed report from the district authorities on the issuance of arms licence to Bindi. "I have asked the officer concerned to furnish the verification report of the police station (Chandauti) on the basis of which the arms licence was granted to him (Bindi)," Kunga said.
He confirmed that one arms licence had been provided to Bindi and three to Manorama. "I will personally inquire into under what circumstances recommendations for arms licences were sent from the police stations," Kunga added.
Manorama was issued the arms licences on the recommendation of the Sherghati police station in 2003 when Lalu Prasad's RJD was in power in the state. Bindi, a diehard supporter of Lalu, had unsuccessfully contested the 2010 Assembly elections from Gurua on an RJD ticket.
Additional director-general (headquarters) Sunil Kumar said it was being verified as to how the arms licence was given to Bindi.
Gaya district magistrate Kumar Ravi said the process of cancellation of arms licence of Bindi and his MLC-wife would start after the receipt of the report of the Gaya senior superintendent of police (SSP). "We are waiting for the SSP's report," he added.
The procedure for getting an arms licence is quite lengthy. The office of the district magistrate (DM), after receiving an arms licence application, forwards the same to the police station concerned for verification and investigation of the applicant's past record and criminal history. The police are expected to complete the formalities within 20 days and submit the report to the DM's office.
The application is then sent to the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM)'s office for another report. The SDM is also required to send a report to the DM's office. If all the reports are ok, the arms licence is issued within three months. In some cases, the process takes years.
