Just days after a Bihar policeman’s barbaric conduct with an arrested man shocked the nation, fresh revelations have pointed at the rot in the state police force and renewed calls for stringent action against the erring men in uniform.
The exposure of a prostitution racket in capital Patna allegedly run by some policemen and the arrest of a police station head in southern Bihar in the act of receiving a bribe to arrest a rape accused have upset senior police officials. The two incidents come at a time of sharp rise in crimes across Bihar with the police facing perhaps the biggest decline in its image in years.
A raid on government quarters in Patna’s Gardanibagh area on suspicion of a sex racket being run there led to the arrest of constable Vishwanath along with an alleged pimp and three women on Thursday. The articles seized there – police uniforms, seals and files of Patna’s SSP office, many condoms and liquor bottles – pointed at a prostitution racket run with active involvement of policemen.
A sub-inspector currently posted outside Patna is said to be connected with the alleged racket. The seized diary of the alleged pimp, Chhedi Ram, reportedly contains phone numbers of dozens of women and men allegedly involved in the racket run in government quarters near the Gardanibag police station that was unlawfully occupied by the arrested constable.
“The police have little role in this racket. The arrested constable was posted not in Gardanibag police station, but in Danapur. Investigations are on,” said Patna City SP Jayant Kant.
In Nawada, state vigilance bureau arrested Jag Narayan Ram, the SHO of Narhat police station, in his police station just as he was receiving `10,000 from a rape victim’s father with the promise to arrest the accused. Ram was receiving only the first half of the bribe he had demanded, said officials.