Bihar Police late on Thursday arrested a member of the Special Task Force (STF) for killing youth activist Bharat Bhushan Tiwari during an encounter in Bhojpur’s Bilauti village on June 17. The case had led to widespread uproar, prompting the state government to order a judicial probe.
Bhojpur SP Raaj confirmed that STF jawan Akshay Kumar was arrested on Thursday night with the help of technical experts and mobile surveillance. The jawan, under scrutiny for his role, was reportedly not cooperating with the investigation and was evading summons from the investigating team.
He has been booked under Sections 103(1) (whoever commits murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine) and 3(8) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with Section 27 of the Arms Act.
According to police officers familiar with the matter, investigating agencies had called Akshay Kumar for questioning several times, but he was consistently absent. A hunt was launched as he kept evading questioning by the investigating team. “Now the police will question him on every aspect of the incident. It will also investigate the conditions that led to firing at Tiwari and whether the STF action was in accordance with prescribed rules,” said the officer.
The arrest came after Tiwari’s mother, sister and other family members met Bihar chief minister Samrat Choudhary in during the Bihar assembly’s monsoon session on July 24. The CM, according to reports, promised the family that “culprits” would be arrested.
Bharat’s brother Chandan Tiwari has been alleging that jawan Akshay Kumar was the first to fire at his brother. He and other family members maintain that Bharat was killed despite surrendering to the police and throwing his gun on the ground.
The encounter followed when Bharat’s video with a gun went viral on social media and the police arrived to arrest him after a complaint. After more than a 48-hour drama, portions of which were broadcast on social media, Bharat was said to have agreed to surrender. However, as the surrender was being negotiated, he was shot at by the STF members.
He succumbed to his injuries at the PMCH in Patna.
His family raised an outcry, alleging that Bharat had been murdered intentionally. Soon the issue snowballed, leading the state government to order a one-member judicial inquiry by Justice Vinod Kumar Sinha, a retired Patna high court judge, on June 20.
