JD(U) MLA’s Husband Escapes From Jail, Station-in-charge Suspended

The husband of JD(U) MLA Bima Bharti was freed by a mob from the Maranga police station in Bihar’s Purnea District.

Awadesh Mandal (right), husband of JD(U) MLA Bima Bharti (left) escaped from prison. Speculations are rife that Bharti assisted in Mandal’s escape. (Photo: screengrab from YouTube)

The husband of a ruling JD(U) MLA and former Bihar minister, escaped from jail when his wife visited the Maranga police station in Bihar’s Purnea district, the police have said.

The incident took place Monday night at Maranga police station where Awadesh Mandal, the husband of JD(U) MLA Bima Bharti, was arrested on charges of threatening witnesses of a murder case.

<p>The local police are answerable as to how a criminal escaped. Everyone knows about Awadhesh Mandal’s criminal antecedents, and Maranga police should have been extra alert.</p>

<b>Nishant Kumar Tiwari, Senior Superintendent </b>

Awdesh has a strong criminal background. He was arrested for allegedly threatening a witness, Sonia Devi, to not depose before the court in connection with the murder of her husband Chanchal Paswan, who was killed in 2005.

Eyewitnesses said the escape took place when Bharti, along with Purnea MP Santosh Kushwaha, was at the police station. Twenty people, thought to be JD(U) supporters, stormed the police station, with hundreds surrounding it, to help him flee.

The station-in-charge, Shivshankar Kumar, has been suspended. It has been 12 hours since Mandal escaped but a warrant and search has been issued to arrest him again.

Asked to comment on the presence of a MLA and MP during the escape, Tiwari said the Sub Divisional Police Officer of Banmakhi, Kundan Kumar, will probe the escape.

Within two-hours of Awdesh’s arrest, 20 supporters forced their way into the station and threatened the station-in-charge Shivshankar Kumar to file a counter-FIR. Diverting Kumar’s attention, they freed Awdesh.

The incident has drawn ire for the Nitish Kumar-led government. Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said “Is prevailing over police to free a criminal rule of law? Criminals seem to have got a licence. Is this how Nitish wants to establish law and order? Police morale is at an all-time low due to political intervention.”

Former chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha leader Jitan Ram Manjhi too assailed Kumar over the incident and said his “claim of tightening law and order is dishonesty.”

(With agency inputs.)