CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya (centre) joins a protest walk in Patna on Thursday. The party had called a Bihar bandh in protest against the Bagaha firing incident that left six dead. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, June 27: Members of the police association are enraged at lodging of criminal cases against their fellow colleagues in Bagaha.

Six persons were killed in the West Champaran town on Monday when the police had to open fire to control a mob.

A delegation of the Bihar Police Association (BPA) met director-general of police Abhayanand in his office on Thursday and submitted a petition seeking his guidelines on the issue. The association members were furious over making some of the police officers as named accused in the FIR lodged by one Bhim Mahto, a resident of Dardari village. A statement has been issued from the chief minister’s office on Thursday evening that action would be taken against the erring officers once the investigation report is submitted.

Bagaha sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Shailesh Kumar and inspector of police D.N. Jha are among the five officers named as accused in the FIR lodged with the Naurangia police station. In addition, 100 unidentified policemen have been accused of opening fire on a group of residents without prior warning.

The officers have been made accused under sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC and 27 Arms Act. BPA leader Mritunjay Kumar said the policemen are caught between the devil and the deep sea. “See the plight of the policemen in the state. If they don’t use force to disperse a mob, they are dubbed impotent. And when they use force, they are made named accused in the criminal offences,” he added.

Preliminary police investigation revealed that the attack on the policemen at Mahuawa Kataria village under Naurangia police station was pre-meditated. The police team headed by the SDPO left for Mahuawa Kataria after getting information about the recovery of a body of a man purported to be that of Chandraeshwar Kazi, who had been missing since June 14.

A special investigation team, headed by SDPO (Narkatiaganj) Sanjay Kumar, has been assigned to investigate the cases related to the alleged kidnapping of 25-year-old Kazi, police firing and the attack on the police team by a mob.

On the other hand, CPI(ML) leaders in Bhojpur on Thursday disrupted train and road traffic for hours in protest against the police firing. However, no untoward incident was reported from East Champaran, West Champaran and Bagaha during the Bihar Bandh called by the CPI(ML).