Refuting the Bharatiya Janata Party allegations the Bihar government played vote bank politics by not taking the custody of Yasin Bhatkal, Director General of Police Abhayanand said the police had acted as per the provisions of the law.
“Everything was done according to what’s mandated in law. The Bihar police helped the National Investigation Agency in making the arrest and other central agencies by providing security, which was vital. The police also participated in the interrogations. These allegations are baseless,” Mr. Abhayanand said in a press conference.
On Friday, ex-Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi tweeted, “Why bhatkal was not taken on remand by Bihar govt for interrogation? whereas 6 state govts are in Q for taking him on remand.”
The DGP said for taking the custody of Yasin and his aide Asadhullah Akhtar, there had to be viable grounds for seeking remand. “The NIA has cases against him, so they took him into custody.”
It would have been incorrect for the Bihar police to take full credit of the arrest, since the alerts had come from the Intelligence Bureau. “Without their intelligence, we would not have been possible. It is a commendable job for the Indian police. The forces of several states were involved in this operation,” he said.
Interrogated in forest
Mr. Abhayanand said after apprehending Yasin and Asadullah in Raxaul, East Champaran district, around 8 a.m., the Bihar police took them to a thick forest in Bettiah in West Chamaparan district for interrogation, in a highly secret operation. Even the forest officials were “informationally isolated” from this operation. The duo were interrogated in the forest for about three hours and then taken to the Motihari court for remand.
In Patna, the terror suspects were interrogated throughout the night at the high-security Bihar Military Police camp.
