Nitish questions SSB’s actions as minister comes under scanner

Patna: With Bihar minister Shahid Ali Khan under SSB’s scanner for suspected links with Indian Mujahideen activists, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday questioned the central agency’s handling of the matter, especially as to why he was not informed, and has directed a probe into it.

“What is the source of the information of the SSB which it has taken note of suo motu and sent the same to the STF in Bihar for verification?” Kumar told reporters today while replying to a query on the issue.

Bihar Police had yesterday said that it received a letter from the the Shashtra Seema Bal (SSB) last month seeking verification of charge about Khan allegedly having links with the two IM operatives Jameel Akhtar and Mansoor Sai.

The Special Task Force (STF) had asked the Motihari and Sitamarhi SPs to probe the matter and they had found the allegation as false, it said.

The information with the SSB about the Minority Welfare Minister’s alleged links with the IM operatives must be probed in view of seriousness of the matter, Kumar said.

The information should be processed thoroughly, the Chief Minister said.

Taking strong exception to the manner in which the SSB had sent the information to the STF in Bihar for verification of charge against his minister, he said that the matter should have been probed by higher agency in the first place and then he should have been informed about it as well as the presiding officer of the house of which the said person is a member.

The Chief Minister regretted that he came to know about the matter from a friend in the media that the SSB has sent an information to the STF asking for verification of the charge against the minister.

He said that he has directed the Home Secretary and the DGP to get the matter probed.

Kumar also came hard on the BJP for targeting the Minority Welfare Minister, saying that it appeared that the BJP leaders were suffering from “mental illness”.

“The mind of BJP leaders have become rotten and they are suffering from a disease which make them speak baseless things about a Muslim individual,” the Chief Minister said.

The BJP under the new avatar has a mindset to see any Muslim individual with suspicion, he said and added that the NDA under the leadership of the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee did not treat the members of minority community in suspicious manner.

The Minister had categorically denied the allegation and demanded a probe by any agency in the matter even as the Bihar police too had come to the rescue of Khan trashing the charge against him.

The ADG (Headquarters) Ravindra Kumar, at a hurriedly convened press conference last night, rubbished the charges of alleged collusion with the IM operatives on the basis of reports of the SPs of East Champaran and Sitamarhi district.