The state police headquarters on Thursday suspended three policemen for "indecent behaviour" at a public place during a Dussehra celebration.
All the three cops were posted at Koelwar police station in Bhojpur district, around 40km west of Patna.
The action followed a video that went viral on social media on Wednesday, showing Koelwar police station house officer (SHO) Sanjay Shanker, assistant sub-inspector Devcharan Singh and constable Bhushan dancing with some girls. The assistant sub-inspector also threw bundles of currency notes on the dancers onstage in full public view.
Inspector-general (IG), Patna zone, Nayyar Hasnain Khan said the three policemen had been put under suspension with immediate effect.
"I have also directed the SP (superintendent of police) concerned to initiate departmental proceedings against them," Khan told The Telegraph.
The IG has asked Bhojpur SP Kshatranil Singh to find out whether any other policemen had attended the cultural show, organised by a local puja committee - Saraswati Kala Kendra - at Koelwar Chowk, around 15km east of Ara district headquarters town.
Bhojpur SP Kshatranil has been directed to submit a detailed report within three days.
"Instructions have been issued to remove all the policemen who have been staying at the police station for long," Khan said, adding that punitive action against the cops was taken after verification of the video clips.
"We can't tolerate such conduct of policemen at any cost. The policemen were seen dancing with bar girls publicly at the stage and hurling notes on them. Such a conduct is not expected from any police officer who has been assigned to maintain law and order in society," said IG Khan.
Sources said Sanjay Shanker was transferred to Koelwar police station as SHO from Nawada police station about six months ago. He had hit headlines about two years ago when he had brutally assaulted some students' union leaders of Veer Kuer Singh University, Ara, who were staging a demonstration in the district headquarters town.
Shanker was shifted to Arwal from Bhojpur after the intervention of some influential politicians, police sources said, and again got a plum posting as SHO of Koelwar, a hub of illegal sand mining from the Sone river.
