Rabri sacks home secy, joins sobbing relatives at cremation

PATNA, DEC 3: All the 61 victims of Monday’s carnage were cremated en masse amidst poignant scenes today even as the Bihar Government, in a swift administrative reshuffle, sacked the Home Secretary and suspended the Jehananbad police superintendent.

Angry villagers refused to allow the cremation until Chief Minister Rabri Devi visited the village that had witnessed the worst-ever violence by the banned Ranvir Sena in the state. Rabri later joined the mourning relatives at the cremation in the village. Home Secretary D P Maheswari has been replaced by R K Singh, who was the divisional commissioner of Patna. Maheswari has now been posted as agriculture development commissioner. Jehanabad police superintendent A S Rajan, has been put under suspension and Director General of Police S K Saxena will be removed in four to five days, Rabri Devi told reporters in Patna.

Assuring protection to life and property, she announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 1.3 lakh to the next of kin of each victim besides promising government jobs to their dependents.

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Meanwhile, the Centre today asked the Bihar government to launch an intensive drive to disarm the Ranvir Sena and underground Naxalite organisations, assuring it of all possible help to combat the extremist menace in the state.

Union Minister of State for Home Maqbool Dar said here that the Centre would “definitely” try to meet the state’s requirement of para-military forces. Two battalions of the CRPF would be sent for deployment in the extremist-infested districts of central and south Bihar.