By IANS
Patna : The bodies of seven of the 10 alleged thieves, who were lynched by a mob in Bihar’s Vaishali district, were recovered in a decomposed state Sunday raising suspicion that all bodies were not cremated by the police as claimed by them.
Some villagers found four bodies in a decomposed state at Konharaghat in the district Sunday morning. Later, three more bodies were recovered.
Maheshwar Singh, a villager said it appeared the police had thrown some bodies out of the ten into the river instead of cremating them.
Another villager Suresh Sahni also said that the bodies were thrown into the river.
An estimated mob of over 5,000 people lynched the 10 alleged thieves early Thursday in Dhelpurwa village near Hajipur, about 40 km from here. Police claimed Saturday that the bodies were cremated at Konharaghat Friday night as per Hindu rituals.
They said that 12-year-old Vikranta, son of one of the deceased performed the funeral rites.
The state government has transferred Vaishali district magistrate Lallan Singh and superintendent of police Anupama Nilekar. The officers-in-charge of the Hajipur and Rajapaker police stations have also been suspended. Dhelpurwa falls under the Rajapaker police station.
The Vaishali district administration refused to comment on the issue.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has convened a meeting Sunday with senior officials to discuss the development.
Meanwhile, a team of the National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribes has begun a probe into the lynching of the 10 alleged thieves.The victims belonged to the Nat community of gypsies, known for its backwardness. The commission will try to find the reasons that led to the gory incident.
The Bihar government has also decided to impose a collective fine on the villagers for taking the law into their own hands.
The decision to impose the fine was taken at a high level meeting of top police officials chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Saturday.
Alarmed at the increasing number of cases of mob brutality in the state, the Bihar government has decided to impose a fine on the entire village if its residents take the law in their own hands while dealing with criminal offences.