New Delhi: A mob of 200 to 300 people assaulted the investigating team, abused and hurt the modesty of a female member of the team, vandalised the official vehicle, and injured the driver — these are the allegations of the team leader of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that came under attack in Nawada district of Bihar Saturday.
The CBI team had arrived in Murhena village, under the jurisdiction of the Rajauli police, to raid the residence of Babita Devi in connection with the probe into the University Grants Commission National Eligibility Test (UGC NET). The exam, which was conducted on 18 June across cities, was subsequently announced as “cancelled” following inputs that “the integrity of the examination may have been compromised”.
The Nawada district police Sunday arrested four accused in the case after filing an FIR under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 152 (assaulting public servant), 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (use of criminal force to obstruct public servant from discharging duty), 427 (mischief), 354 (hurting modesty of a woman), and 307 (attempts to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The Union education ministry had handed over the UGC NET paper leak case to the CBI Thursday, followed by the NEET examination paper leak case Saturday. The agency filed a case to investigate the UGC NET paper leak Friday, and the case for the NEET paper leak was filed Sunday, with the state government giving its consent the same day.
The CBI said in a statement Sunday said that the ministry of education had sought a “comprehensive investigation” into all allegations involving cheating, impersonation, breach of trust, and destruction of evidence by candidates, institutes, and middlemen as well as the role played by public servants, if any, in the larger conspiracy behind the breach.
CBI further said that it has already constituted special teams to probe the matter on top priority, for which these teams are being sent to Patna and Godhra, where Police have been probing cases of irregularities at the examination centres and breach of examination sanctity.
Speaking to ThePrint, Nawada Superintendent of Police Ambrish Rahul said that the four accused — Lalan Kumar (Babita Devi’s son), Praveen Kumar, Prince Kumar, and Radha Kumari — were arrested Sunday, and teams have been formed to nab other accused part of the mob.
‘Sexually coloured comments’ against woman constable
According to the FIR filed after midnight Saturday, which ThePrint has seen, a CBI inspector reported to the Rajauli Police Station that the team went to raid the residence of Babita Devi in Murhena village as part of the UGC-NET exam paper leak probe. However, at around 3.50 pm, as they were about to leave, a mob of 200 to 300 people surrounded and attacked the five-member team.
The CBI inspector alleged that the mob did not calm down despite efforts by him and his team members to identify themselves and explain the consequences of obstructing public servants. The inspector further claimed that one Mithlesh Parsad, who identified himself as a ward member of ward number 16, was particularly aggressive and hurled gendered abuses at the female constable.
The inspector also alleged that Mithlesh assaulted the constable, Kajal Kumari, intending to insult her modesty, and sought a case against him under relevant sections of the IPC.
“The local police led by Darshan Chaudhary, SI (sub inspector), managed to push us in the PCR, but the mob tried to pull us out of the car. One person, who identified himself as Mithlesh Parsad, ward member of ward 16, tried to assault Ms Kajal Kumari with intent to outrage her modesty. He also hurled abused at the CBI Team and made sexually-coloured comments on Ms Kajal Kumari. He also abused the lady constable about her womanhood,” the CBI inspector alleged in his police complaint that became the basis of the FIR.
“Some persons among the mob who were involved in the assault and leading the mob were identified as Mithlesh Parsad (ward member), Bhupender Parsad@ Bhupi s/o Panna Lal, Sanjeev Kumar s/o Ishwari Parsad, Santosh s/o Lakshman Parsad, Parveen Kumar s/o Anil Parsad, Amarjit Kumar s/o Rajinder Kumar, Shyam Kumar @ Surya s/o Fulchand Parsad, Prince s/o Sarwan Parsad; all resident of Village Murhena, Tola Kashiyadih, Post Chamotha, Dist. Nawada,” the complaint further read.
“It is requested that an FIR may be registered under relevant provisions of law against the above said persons for obstructing the govt officials while doing official duty, abusing & assaulting the CBI Team with criminal force, assaulting Ms Kajal Kumari with to outrage her modesty and for the acts as mentioned in this complaint,” the CBI officer said in his complaint.
Senior police officials in Nawada told ThePrint that the local police station was unaware of the CBI team’s presence in their area and learned of it only at around 4.30 pm Saturday when they made a distress call in the wake of a charged-up mob.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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