Hazaribagh police firing: Prime accused Congress MLA Nirmala Devi arrested

Congress MLA Nirmala Devi, the prime accused who went underground after the police firing incident on October 1 at Chirudih coal mining site of the NTPC at Barkagaon, was arrested on Tuesday from Oakni Mohalla of this town, the police said. The police firing had claimed four lives and left over a dozen injured.

According to DIG (North Chotonagpur Range) Upendra Kumar,soon after her arrest she was taken to an undisclosed place by the police for interrogation. Later, she was produced in the court of the Sub-divisional Judicial Magistrate Richa Srivastava after her medical examination in the Hazaribagh Sadar Hospital. After examining all details, the court sent her to 14 days judicial custody.

Earlier in the day, Superintendent of Police, Hazaribagh,Bhimsen Tuti said a warrant was obtained from the court against Devi in connection with case no 228/16, which was filed in the Barkagaon police station by the district administration following the violence on October 1. 

The incident occurred after the Congress MLA was taken to the police station during a protest, he said. Tuti said violence triggered when Devi was forcibly freed by the crowd near Kolgarha village and the policemen were attacked by a violent mob. In order to "save their lives", the police had fired 68 rounds, he said. The SP said two other cases were also filed by NTPC against the agitators, who were staging a protest and were allegedly preventing a private construction company to take heavy machines to Chirudih for mining operation.