Agarwal was alleged to be involved in the Forbesganj firing of June 2011 also
By IANS,
Patna: A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator was arrested Monday in connection with the killing of his employee in Bihar’s Katihar district, police said.
Ashok Agrawal, a BJP legislator, was arrested following hue and cry by opposition and repeated demands of his family to take action against him.
“Agrawal was arrested and sent to jail after being presented before the court. He is likely to be sent in police remand,” Rajesh Kumar, sub-divisional police officer, told IANS over telephone.
Katihar is about 200 km from here.
Dhiraj Mahto was killed in the guardroom at the residence-cum-petrol pump of Agrawal, who is also a businessman.
The slain Mahto’s brother, Niraj Mahto, named Agrawal for killing his brother for refusing to return to his construction work site in Araria district.
Agrawal, however, denied it and said that Mahto was killed accidentally when the carbine went off in the petrol pump.
TCN input:
Ashok Agarwal was also alleged to have fired along with police on the Bhajanpur villagers in Forbesganj on 3rd June 2011 when the locals were protesting against the blockade of their approach road by Auro Sundaram company. Agarwal is said to have high stake in the company. His son is one of the directors of the company.
Four persons — all Muslims — including an infant and a pregnant lady were killed in the firing. The state government did not take any action against the guilty. It constituted a judicial probe team which is yet to submit its report. The state government did not offer any compensation to the victims either.
BJP is alliance partner of the JDU-ruled government of Nitish Kumar. It is said that several cases of murder are already pending against Agarwal.