Information went viral without video first, and officer denied it. But then emerged the CCT footage.
A police officer in Bihar's Nawada town put five juniors inside the lockup after he found their work dissatisfactory — something he has denied but a video is now viral.
The Bihar Police Association — a staff union that has district units — today demanded an inquiry against Gaurav Mangla, the Superintendent of Police, for the September 8 incident.
Security camera footage shows five cops — Sub-Inspectors Shatrughan Paswan and Ramrekha Singh; ASIs Santosh Paswan, Sanjay Singh and Rameshwar Uraon — inside the lockup at Navada Nagar police station. They were let out after two hours, around midnight.
SP Mangla, who heads the area police, has said nothing of the sort happened. Inspector Vijay Kumar Singh, the station in-charge, agreed with his boss.
But sources said the SP had come to the police station around 9 pm on September 8 to review cases. He found negligence by some officers, at whom he got angry and ordered they be put in the lockup. The sources did not say what the negligence was. Nor has the SP said anything about it.
The "lock them up" event — no video was not out yet — went viral on WhatsApp the next day. The SP said it was just "fake news". It seemed to die down.
But then emerged the CCTV footage.
Mrityunjay Kumar Singh, president of the Bihar Police Association, took note. He said he tried to talk to the SP but he didn't take his call. Today, he issued a press release demanding an inquiry.
He also expressed fears that the CCTV may be tampered with by the SP, who heads the area police. "His actions demoralised junior officers," said Mrityunjay Kumar Singh, demanding an immediate FIR.
The Chief Secretary of Bihar, meanwhile, issued a directive to all senior officers "not to resort to extreme steps" in dealing with subordinates.