Mehboob Ali Quaiser

Patna, June 9: Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) president Chouhary Mehboob Ali Quaiser today came down heavily on Bihar’s deputychief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, blaming him for the police-firing incident in Forbesganj.

Quaiser, who had visited the site, said: “BJP MLC Ashok Kumar Agrawal, who owns the company for which the land was being acquired and Modi share a good relationship. Modi had visited the area on May 29. It should be probed whether the administration erected a boundary wall on Modi’s directive.”

He said, even the relationship between Modi and Agrawal should be probed. Quaiser demanded that the CBI should inquire into the police firing episode as it is the only premiere investigating agency, which could probe the matter from all angles.

Quaiser fumbled when The Telegraph asked him why he insists on a CBI probe even as the state government has announced a judicial probe into the incident. After a couple of seconds he said: “It is only the CBI that can probe complex issues in quick time. It has been seen that a judicial commission takes much longer to conclude its probe.”

The BPCC chief also slammed the Nitish government for not sending any of his ministers to meet the aggrieved families. “It seems that Nitish is under severe pressure from his ally BJP. That is why it is not sending his ministerial representatives at Bhajanpura village, which is minority-dominated. This government has failed in its efforts to open a branch of Aligarh Muslim University in Kishanganj due to BJP’s pressure. This has exposed Nitish’s anti-minority face.”

He also demanded that the state government should give a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the families of those who were killed in the incident and Rs 5 lakh to the injured, besides giving a government job to the next to the kin of those killed.

“The government should immediately remove the heavy deployment of police force as the people, who are having difficulty in moving out of their houses, are panic-stricken,” the Congress leader said, adding that the road should be opened for the villagers.

“If our demands are not met within 15 days, we will launch a statewide agitation on the issue. After that we will submit a memorandum to the governor for which we have sought time from his excellency,” Quaiser said.