Cash recovered by State Vigilance Unit from the house of Bettiah DEO Rajnikant Pravin on January 24, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement  

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Thursday (January 23, 2025) came down hard on the Nitish Kumar government over two incidents which triggered a political debate in Bihar.

The first is exchange of firing between two groups in Mokama involving former MLA Anant Singh and another is State Vigilance Unit (SVU) conducting raids linked to Bettiah District Education Officer (DEO) Rajnikant Pravin in which the anti-corruption wing has seized movable and immovable assets valued more than ₹2 crore, including ₹50 lakh cash.

Taking a dig at the State government, Mr. Yadav alleged that law and order has collapsed in Bihar and corruption is at its peak under the leadership of Mr. Kumar.

Search operation

On Thursday (January 23, 2025), SVU conducted a search operation linked to Bettiah DEO in West Champaran district over allegations of disproportionate assets. The raids were carried out in Bettiah, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur and Patna.

Speaking over the cash recovery, Mr. Yadav said, “See the level of corruption. Can you imagine such a huge amount of cash recovered from the house of a DEO. Crime and Corruption are two engines of double engine government in Bihar.”

In the evening Bihar Education Department suspended Bettiah DEO with immediate effect.

Retaliatory firing

On Wednesday (January 22, 2025), more than 100 rounds of retaliatory firing took place between the supporters of Mr. Singh and Sonu-Monu group. The incident happened when Mr. Singh, a strongman, reached Nauranga village along with his supporters to settle some dispute.

According to the police, the firing started when Sonu-Monu, native of Jalalpur village assaulted a local businessman over a financial dispute. When Mr. Singh’s supporters tried to intervene in the matter it turned violent and firing started from both sides. Police are yet to recover the arms.

Police have lodged three FIRs in the firing incident naming more than five persons including Mr. Singh and Sonu-Monu.

Speaking to the media later, Mr. Singh said one of his supporters got injured in the firing and Sonu-Monu are kidnappers who have a history of kidnapping and dacoity.

“In Patna district, more than 100 rounds of firing happened and the criminal is openly giving interviews to the media. The law and order in the State has completely collapsed,” Mr. Yadav said.

Mr. Yadav urged the people of Bihar to ensure the defeat of NDA in the upcoming Assembly election. He said when the RJD-led grand alliance forms the government, all criminals would be sent to jail.

Without naming anyone, Mr. Yadav further said, “If you look at the criminal history of Bihar, you will understand who is giving shelter to these criminals. The CM looks after the Home Department and he should come forward to speak on this. Everyone knows that the Chief Minister has released two criminals who are close to him in the past few months. There is criminal disorder of law and order in the State,” Mr. Yadav said.

The Leader of Opposition in Bihar Legislative Assembly was indirectly hinting towards Mr. Singh and former MP Anand Mohan who are out of jail. Mr. Singh was serving 10 years sentence in Arms Act whereas Mr. Mohan was serving a life sentence in the murder of Dalit IAS officer G. Krishnaiah.

In April 2023 when Mr. Mohan was released, it was alleged that the Home Department had tweaked the jail manual by making amendments into it to release him.

Following the disqualification of Mr. Singh as Mokama MLA, his wife Neelam Devi had contested on RJD ticket and won the seat in 2022 when bypoll was held.

In February 2024 when Mr. Kumar broke alliance with RJD and formed the government with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Ms. Devi did cross-voting in favour of the NDA government during the trust-vote. Even Mr. Mohan’ son Chetan Anand did cross-voting.

Mr. Singh was released from jail in August 2024.