Krishna, the labrador who was booked

They motivate us to play,

Be affectionate,

Seek adventure,

And be loyal

— Tom Hayden about dogs

But if the master has vested interests even a four-legged friend can go wrong.

A black Labrador belonging to a minister’s husband has been booked for obstructing a public servant from performing his duty. The Bhawanipur police station in Purnea lodged a complaint against Krishna, the dog, of Awadhesh Mandal, the husband of Bima Bharti, the Scheduled Caste and extremely backward classes welfare minister in the Jitan Ram Manjhi cabinet.

Krishna was made accused, along with her owner Awadhesh, who allegedly threatened the Bhawanipur circle officer Anil Kumar with dire consequences for his failure to pay extortion on Friday.

While Krishna was booked under Section 186 (obstructing public servant from performing his duty) of the Indian Penal Code, Mandal was slapped with the charges of extortion and criminal assault under sections 386 and 351 of the IPC.

According to the complaint submitted by the circle officer, Mandal, along with his henchmen visited his office on Friday, hurled abuses and threatened to eliminate him if he failed to follow his diktat.

Mandal was accompanied by his pet Krishna, who growled at him and scattered the official documents at her master’s instruction, the complaint stated. The complainant Anil Kumar alleged that Mandal was so enraged that he signalled his canine to show his furious side (read teeth). “Apprehending trouble, I preferred to keep mum and reported the matter to the police,” Anil said, adding that he has apprised the senior officials of the matter.

The circle officer also charged Mandal and his 20-25 supporters for thrashing Ajay Kumar, Nazir and Binay Kumar Mandal, revenue employees, on the office premises.

Bhawanipur station house officer S.N. Pandey said the charges against Mandal, a resident of Bhitha village in Purnea, were being verified.

Mandal, however, denied the allegations and said he had visited the office of the circle officer on the request of the residents. “They (residents) alleged that the circle officer was involved in corrupt practices,” he said, adding that he returned home as the circle officer was not present in the office. “I am being dragged into a controversy out of political vendetta,” he told The Telegraph over phone.