Minister’s son held for ‘stoking’ Bihar clashes
PATNA: Bihar police arrested early Sunday Arijit Shashwat, son of Union minister of state Aswini Kumar Choubey, for allegedly stoking communal violence in Bhagalpur in March, but the young leader insisted that he gave himself up respecting a court warrant against him.
Police produced Shashwat at the residence of additional chief judicial magistrate AR Upadhyay, who sent him to 14-day judicial custody , public prosecutor Satya Narayan Prasad Sah said.
The arrest came after a Bhagalpur court rejected Shashwat’s plea for anticipatory bail and police sought an order to attach his property.
According to police, he had taken out an unauthorised procession to mark the Hindu New Year in which several people shouted objectionable slogans, leading to Hindu-Muslim clashes in the town. Several people, including two policemen, were wounded in the clashes in which mobs threw stones, fired gunshots and set afire public and private property.
Confirming his arrest, Bihar police chief KS Dwivedi said Shashwat was tracked from Ara on the way to Mahavir Mandir in Patna, where policemen were waiting to arrest him. “We had information about his whereabouts ,” he said.
Shashwat has been named, besides eight other people, in one of two FIRs lodged at Nathnagar police station in Bhagalpur after communal violence broke out on March 17 when some people objected to loud music and alleged inflammatory slogans during a religious procession led by him.
Calling the FIR against him false and fabricated, Shashwat said he will approach higher courts for justice. “I have surrendered, will soon approach higher courts for justice,” said the leader, who had earlier refused to surrender.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar was under pressure to act against Shashwat as the communal flare-up spread to several districts. The alleged delay in the arrest attracted criticism from opposition parties in Bihar, especially the RJD and the Congress, which accused the state government of soft-peddling the matter.
Reacting to Shashwat’s arrest, ruling JD(U) spokesman Neeraj Kumar said it was a fitting reply to the Opposition. Congress leader Prem Chand Mishra responded that the entire episode showed the “helplessness” of CM Kumar before the BJP.