Patna, March 30: The son of slain lawyer-turned-RTI activist, Ram Kumar Thakur, has pointed finger at police-politician nexus that turned out to be a risk for whistleblowers in the state.

Pankaj Kumar, the only son of Muzaffarpur-based Thakur, has sought an explanation from the police top brass why the local cops initiated action only after the incident. “Ghatna hone ke baad hi police kyo jagti hai (why the police wake up only after the incidents),” asked Pankaj.

Thakur died on way to hospital on March 23 soon after he had been shot at.

Sources in the police headquarters said that Thakur was the fifth RTI activist who was killed in the state for exposing corruption in the past seven years. The others killed are Shridhar Mishra from Begusarai, Murlidhar Jaiswal (Munger), Ramvilas Singh (Lakhisarai) and Rahul Raj (Muzaffarpur).

Pankaj said his father had petitioned at least thrice to the Maniyari police station officers apprehending threat to his life for exposing misdeeds of local mukhiya, Raj Kumar Sahni. But the men in uniform kept the petitions under wraps every time, he alleged. Even his attempts to seek police protection from the superintendent of police and deputy inspector-general (Tirhut range) proved futile as the main perpetrator of the crime, Sahni, enjoyed alleged blessings of a senior politician in the district. Pankaj said that his father had received threats from Sahni’s son Rajesh after a probe was initiated by the Union ministry of rural development on the basis of information sought under the RTI Act.

Rajesh had also assaulted Thakur, who lodged a complaint with police, he added. He said Thakur had to pay dearly for exposing corruption in execution of the MGNREGA funds in the panchayat.

Stating that his father was killed for doing what the government was supposed to, Pankaj said that it was high time the whistleblowers are being provided protection.

Pankaj’s cousin Sujeet, who was with Thakur at the time of the incident, accused the local police of being hand in glove with the accused. Sujeet said that Maniyari police station Shafir Alam, who was house officer then, intervened and took him (Thakur) to the hospital in a private vehicle. “I was suggested by Alam not to accompany him. We are clueless what happened on way to hospital but Alam later told us that Thakur succumbed to his injuries,” he said.

The clout of Sahni can be gauged from the fact that a police team, which had gone to attach his property on Thursday, had to return empty handed. The police team faced stiff protest from the mukhiya’s supporters, who alleged that their leader had been falsely implicated in the case.

Muzaffarpur sub-divisional police officer (east) Arvind Kumar Gupta said that the SHO had already been suspended for dereliction of duty. “Raids are on to arrest the accused,” he said. Sahni, his three sons and two nephews have been made named accused in the FIR.

Nabi Ahmad, a Rohtas-based RTI activist, who was brutally assaulted by some public servants in Dehri-on-Sone last year, said: “The state information commission has received over 200 complaints of harassment of RTI activists by the police and the government officials since March 2012 when the government set up a monitoring cell to supervise such cases.”