Shivanand Tiwari Blames RJD for Delaying Bhagalpur Riot Trial
Patna: June 20, 2007
Janata Dal (U) spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari, on Wednesday, shot back at Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Shakeel Ahmed on the latter's recent statements on Bhagalpur riots saying it was the RJD that purposely delayed the trials of the riot while willingly ignoring many irregularities in the entire trial process to protect the culprits.
"There was a concerted effort by the Lalu-Rabri government to protect the Bhagalpur riot accused for political reasons," Tiwari, the former RJD leader said at a press conference in Patna.
"So much so that I saw Kameshwar Yadav, the chief suspect in the Bhagalpur riot case, for the first time at Lalu's darbar during the RJD rule," the JD-U leader said adding the then administration tried its level best to protect him from going on trial.
"The claim by Shakeel Ahmed that the RJD tried to bring all culprits to justice is nothing but an attempt to mislead the people as facts say otherwise. Kameshwar Yadav was charged with committing murders and there were eyewitnesses in the case but in spite of that, the case against him was closed at the behest of RJD leaders," Tiwari said at the press conference.
"Being the special public prosecutor, Shakeel Ahmed went to Bhagalpur only once and by pulling political strings, he got his junior Braj Kishore Prasad Singh promoted to the post of additional special public prosecutor. This is why no accused in the Bhagalpur riot was ever punished," Tiwari informed.
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