Jharkhand DGP Neeraj Sinha has ordered a CID probe into the June 10 violence along Ranchi Main Road during protests against the denigration of Prophet Mohammed by two now-axed BJP spokespersons.
The order issued on Friday evening is based on the FIR lodged by the magistrate on deputation (circle officer Amit Kumar Bhagat) at the Daily Market police station.
“The order has been issued as per the laid out guidelines of National Human Rights Commission for any killing in police action. It would be separate from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe,” said Jharkhand IG (operation) and spokesperson, Amol V. Homkar.
Ranchi police have pressed various charges against 22 persons booked by name and hundreds of unidentified persons in the 25 FIRs registered so far into the June 10 violence.
The police said that the majority of the FIRs were registered at Hindpiri and Daily Market Police stations in the city.
“On the instructions of DGP Neeraj Sinha, Jharkhand IG, Human Rights, Akhilesh Jha has issued an order for CID investigation. The CID will soon start the investigation by taking over the case. In this, the investigation report will be submitted on other grounds including statements of witnesses, statements of injured policemen and technical support,” said a source in Ranchi police.
Two youths were killed during the protests after Friday prayers in Ranchi allegedly in police firing after incidents of violence and stone-pelting on the police along Main Road in protests demanding the arrest of axed BJP leaders Nupur Sharma and Navin Jindal for the derogatory comments.
A third youth is in a critical condition and was on Friday airlifted to a private hospital in Delhi from Ranchi for better treatment.
A high-level probe team constituted by Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren has sought more time to submit the report.
A two-member committee, made up of senior IAS officer and secretary, disaster management, Amitabh Kaushal and additional director general (ADG) of police (operations) Sanjay Lathkar, constituted on June 11, had been tasked to submit its report to the state government in a week.
“It had sought further time for investigation and would be submitting its report soon,” said an official in the CM’s secretariat in Ranchi.
Jharkhand High Court had on Friday directed the state government to furnish a report on the investigation into the violence on June 10.
A division bench of Chief Justice Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad was hearing a public interest litigation petition seeking a probe by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) into the matter. The case will again be heard on July 8.
