Reports of CBI probing Nitish create rumblings

Reports of the CBI probe against Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar in the Muzaffarpur shelter home case have caused rumblings in political circles here.

RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha who recently joined the RJD- led grand alliance was the first to demand Mr Kumar’s resignation saying that, “fair probe is not possible if he continues to hold the CM’s chair”.

The situation occurred after a lawyer, Sudhir Kumar Ojha, said that the court while hearing the petition of his client Ashwani Kumar has directed the CBI to examine the role of the chief minister and others in connection with shelter home sexual abuse case. Reacting sharply to development, the ruling JD( U) on Sunday called “forwarding of the petition to the CBI” a routine process and said that “the special POCSO court has not passed any order to the CBI to probe the role of chief minister in the Muzaffarpur shelter home case”.

Talking to this newspaper, JD( U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said that, “No such order has been given by the special court. It has no power to pass such an order to the CBI. It is a routine process that whenever an accused moves a petition the court forwards it to the investigating agencies for consideration”.

On Sunday despite strong denial from the ruling party, Sudhir Kumar Ojha maintained that “such an order was passed by the special POCSO court on Saturday and he would receive the copy of the order on Monday or Tuesday”.

The petitioner Ashwani Kumar is one of the accused and he was arrested in November last year for injecting sedatives to girls at Muzaffarpur shelter home.