Even as the National Commission for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribes began a probe into the lynching of 10 thieves in Vaishali district on last Thursday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said he has directed the Crime Investigation Department (CID) to investigate the case from all possible angles. He said the CID has also been asked for an expeditious and thorough probe. A team of the National Commission for De-notified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribes, led by its Chairman Bal Krishna Sidh Ram Rengare, on Sunday paid a visit to Rajapakar village for an on the spot inquiry. Rengare said it was not clear whether the lynched people were actually thieves. The local police had initially said that all the lynched youths were thieves. In his dying statement made before a magistrate, the only survivor Ranjit Kureri had admitted that all of them had committed robbery on last Thursday. However, in a sudden turnaround, authorities in Patna have claimed that it was not clear whether the youths were thieves or not. Talking to The Indian Express Hajipur SDO, Birendra Kumar Sinha said Ranjit Kureri had indeed admitted that they were involved in the crime. “At that time, however, the youth was in a disturbed state of mind and therefore it needs to be probed whether they were truly thieves and had committed the burglary or not,” Sinha said. Meanwhile, efforts were on to trace the families of the lynched victims, said Preeti Verma, DM of Vaishali.
