CP Thakur

Senior BJP leader C.P. Thakur has expressed concern over the safety of K.K. Singh, the chairman of the committee that submitted a report on the drug purchase scam.

Some criminals allegedly chased Singh’s vehicle while he was returning from Begusarai to Patna on Thursday night. After having a word with Singh, Thakur, also a Rajya Sabha MP, has written to Union home minister Rajnath Singh expressing concern over the security of the panel chairman and his family. He also wanted the Union ministry to direct the state government to protect them. The BJP leader has sent a copy of his letter to chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and director-general of police (DGP) P.K. Thakur in this regard.

Thakur also questioned former chief minister Nitish Kumar and his party’s silence on the issue. Just a week ago, the BJP leader had defended Nitish, saying it was unfair to cast aspersions on the former chief minister’s integrity and honesty in the medicine scam. On Monday, he said the threat to Singh — grandson of the state’s first chief minister late Sri Krishna Singh — and the silence of the government, JDU and its alliance partners, raises serious doubts over the extent and nature of the drug purchase scandal.

In a press release, he said the threat to Singh’s life reminded him of the days of the infamous fodder scam when many witnesses were either found dead or missing.

JDU state spokesperson Ajay Alok termed the incident unfortunate but said K.K. Singh should approach the government. Alok said: “Till now, K.K. Singh has neither made a written complaint nor lodged an FIR. The government will take action if he lodges a complaint.”

Thakur also attacked the state government on the issue of deteriorating law and order in the state after the JDU, RJD and Congress formed an alliance. He said: “The blasts on the Chhapra court premises, the atrocities committed on the Dalits of Naugachhia and RJD MP Pappu Yadav’s activism in trying to become a watchdog for the medical fraternity are matters of great concern to the future of Bihar.”

The BJP and the JDU have been locked in a blame game over the drug scam for some time now.

The BJP has been seeking a CBI probe into the alleged scam. Last week, chief minister Manjhi had ruled out a CBI probe but given a clean chit to Nitish, stressing that the former chief minister was not in charge of the health portfolio during the scam.

He had also asserted that state agencies were competitive enough to carry out investigations into the case. But BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi had reacted sharply, saying: “The Bihar chief minister is nobody to give a clean chit to Nitish. Clean chits are given by investigating agencies”.