The BJP’s Bihar president Samrat Choudhary has questioned an autopsy report that says BJP worker Vijay Singh died due to a heart attack. Claiming it was “manipulated”, he demanded a video-recording of the post-mortem. BJP leaders have previously alleged that Mr. Singh died because of a head injury caused by a lathi charge by police during the State Assembly march on July 13.
The district administration’s autopsy report was released on Thursday evening. The post-mortem, conducted by Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH), said that Mr. Singh, a resident of Jehanabad and BJP general secretary for the district, died due to complications in the heart.
‘Eyewash’
“I came to know about the report of the State government which claims that our worker Vijay Singh ji died due to heart failure. From day one, I have been telling that the government of Nitish Kumar ji is covering up the entire incident and now doing eyewash through the report. The report has been manipulated by the administration and that’s why we had demanded inquiry from the sitting judge of Patna High Court,” Mr. Choudhary said at the party office. “We demand the video footage of the post-mortem because he died due to head injury. If this is not possible, then send the post-mortem report to AIIMS Delhi then everything would be clear,“ he added, reiterating that the State government was responsible for his death and that the Chief Minister must respond to it.
Vijay Kumar Sinha, leader of Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly also alleged that the State government was converting murder cases into natural deaths across the State.
A day after the lathi charge, on July 14, the Patna police had released video footage showing Mr. Singh fainting between 1:22 p.m. and 1:27 p.m. in the Chajju Bagh area at the same time as the lathi charge was taking place in the Dakbungalow area.
Demand for judicial inquiry
A fact-finding team led by former Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das visited Patna recently and met injured party workers, before submitting its report to BJP president J.P. Nadda in Delhi. The probe team, which also included parliamentarians Manoj Tiwari, Sunita Duggal, and Vishnu Dayal Ram, demanded a judicial inquiry.
Mr. Choudhary announced that the BJP will launch a State-wide signature campaign against the lathi charge, from July 24 to August 9, which is also the date when Mr. Kumar snapped ties with the BJP last year to form the State government with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Congress and others. Signatures received from across the State will be submitted to the Governor along with a memorandum.
Asked about the upcoming Lok Sabha election, Mr. Choudhary said that the BJP-led alliance would bag more than 400 seats in the next elections. He emphasised that the Opposition parties were uniting because they were afraid of the BJP.
