The second public interest litigation (PIL) in connection with the Dussehra stampede at Gandhi Maidan was filed in Patna High Court on Friday.

One Vinayak Vijeta has filed the PIL. Another PIL, seeking CBI probe into the October 3 stampede, was filed in the high court on October 8.

Vinayak’s counsel, Sunil Kumar, on Friday said: “The petition seeks judicial inquiry into the incident by a sitting high court judge because the two-member probe committee constituted by the state government lacks credibility. A fair probe is not expected from it.”

The petition challenges the probity of the members of the team — principal secretary (home) Amir Subhani and additional director-general of police Gupteshwar Pandey — who are heading the panel to investigate the circumstances that led to the stampede.

Advocate Sunil said the petition alleges that since both the officers are perceived to be close to the Bihar government, an impartial probe cannot be expected from the duo.

He added that Subhani has been the home secretary for the past five years.

Former chief minister Nitish Kumar in October 2009 had appointed Subhani as the principal secretary (home) replacing Afzal Amanullah, the petition states, adding that since he (Subhani) is in the post for such a long time, an impartial probe cannot be expected from him.

Pandey, in a rarest of rare case and arguably the first-of-its-kind in the state, was reinstated by the Nitish regime nearly nine months after he opted for voluntary retirement in 2009, the PIL stated.

An IPS officer of the 1987 batch, Pandey, while he was posted as inspector-general (security) at the state police headquarters, took voluntary retirement on March 14, 2009, when he was reportedly promised a Lok Sabha ticket by the BJP from Buxar. But Pandey’s desire to enter Parliament was nipped in the bud when the party denied him the ticket at the last moment.

Left in the lurch, the IPS officer petitioned the Bihar government for his reinstatement. As his VRS application was not forwarded to the Centre, which is the appointing authority of officials of all-India services like IAS and IPS, the Bihar government eventually deemed it fit to reinstate Pandey, stated the Friday’s PIL.

The PIL further stated that it stands clear from the facts that a fair probe is impossible in given circumstances as both the officers, who are probing the Dussehra stampede incident, are unlikely to indict government officials for the lapses that led to the death of 33 people.