Ranchi/Giridih, May 2: The posting of controversial police officer, Deepak Verma, as the next superintendent of police of Garhwa has prompted outrage in the ranks of the CPI-ML. A protest march was taken out in Giridih today and the Bagodar MLA, Binod Singh, threatened to launch an agitation.

The party called for a Garhwa bandh on Wednesday, May 4. The day, party spokesmen declared, would be observed as a black day all over the state and sit-in demonstrations will be held in several district headquarters. A party delegation will also call on the governor and seek his intervention. The controversial IPS officer?s name has repeatedly cropped up in connection with fake encounters and the murder of Hazaribagh lawyer, Prashant Sahay, and the former CPI-ML legislator Mahendra Singh. An inquiry had been conducted into the officer?s conduct by additional director general of police, V.D. Ram, but the report is yet to be made public. Unauthorised leakages from the report, however, have appeared from time to time and have been far from complimentary to the IPS officer.

Binod Singh, the son of Mahendra Singh and Bagodar MLA, also declared that he would seek the Speaker?s intervention to stall any posting for Verma. He recalled the Speaker saying in the last session of the Assembly that neither the House nor the government should give an impression that culprits are being protected, the young MLA said that Verma?s posting is not proper when the CBI is still inquiring into the murder of the slain CPI-ML leader and the officer?s role in it.

CPI-ML leaders in the state capital declared that the former Hazaribagh and Giridih SP deserved a prison cell and not another plum posting. The state secretary of the party, Shubhendu Sen, sharply criticised the state government for allowing the murderers of Mahendra Singh to walk free in society. The chief minister, he said, is taking advantage of a divided Opposition to protect the culprits. The slain CPI-ML leader had repeatedly exposed the misconduct and misdeeds of the IPS officer, Sen pointed out. But when Mahendra Singh wrote to the first chief minister, Babulal Marandi, and demanded action against the officer, the chief minister had sent a one-line reply that the matter was being investigated under the supervision of the home secretary.

But the inquiry, he sarcastically added, is still going on while Mahendra Singh himself has been eliminated. A fair probe, he said, was not possible with the IPS officer enjoying the powers and authority of office.