Jharkhand mob lynching: CM suspends deputy commissioner, SP

Chief minister Raghubar Das suspended on Friday Seraikela-Kharsawan district deputy commissioner Ramesh Gholap and police superintendent Rakesh Bansal on charges of dereliction of duties.

A team appointed by the government comprising commissioner and DIG, Kolhan to probe the lynching of four men on suspicion of child lifting at Rajnagar on May 18 have found that the two administrative officials reached the place of incident five hours after an alert was sounded to them about a frenzy mob having taken four men hostage even though their offices and residences are around 25 km away from the spot.

The probe team observed that if the SP and deputy commissioner had taken punitive action on time, the lives of four men could have been saved.

Nine people were lynched in a week from May 12 to May 18 on suspicion of child lifting by frenzy mobs in state’s Kolhan division raising serious concerns over law and order situation in the BJP-ruled state that in 2016 ranked third in the ease of doing business in the country.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had asked Prime Minster Modi to speak on the growing lawlessness in BJP-ruled states in the country.

Various leaders also visited the affected villages and demanded the state government fix accountability of senior administrative officials of the two districts and take stern action against them.

The government set up a two-member committee to probe causes of lynching. The committee, besides holding superstition, cattle trade, WhatsApp messages and instigation by a tribal group as the main factors that led to lynching, also found grave callousness on the part of the two senior administrative officials.

A press note from the chief minister’s office said the two suspended officials will report to their headquarters till their suspension is not relaxed.

Sources said the SP and deputy commissioner never spoke to each other, issued parallel orders and and hence coordination between the civil administration and police had touched rock bottom.