Patna: Ahead of polling for the Bankipur assembly by-election on Thursday, Jan Suraaj alleged that around 20 of its leaders and workers were detained by police in Patna on Wednesday night.The party claimed that Bihar STF personnel were conducting continuous detentions and that some workers were being picked up on allegations of being “disruptive” and “spreading wrong information”. Following the alleged action, Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor convened an emergency meeting at the party office.Jan Suraaj national spokesperson Kumar Saurav Singh questioned the police action, saying the party had no objection if action was taken against anyone found violating the law, but sought clarity on the grounds for the detentions.“Our workers are being picked up. If Jan Suraaj is doing anything wrong, police should certainly take action. But they should tell us under what charges the arrests are being made,” he said.Women’s wing president Pratibha Singh alleged that the action reflected “govt high-handedness” and claimed that people were being picked up without valid reasons.In a letter issued by the party, Jan Suraaj alleged that “one-sided action” was being taken against its workers in the Bankipur assembly constituency. The party claimed that several workers, including Pratyush Purva, Varun Kumar, Abhay Sharma, Vikas Singh, Ameer Imtiyaz, Manish Jha and Sudarshan Mishra, had been detained and taken to different police stations.Jan Suraaj leader Vipin Chandra claimed that around 20 people had been taken into custody and alleged that Bihar STF personnel were involved in the operation. He, however, said the party was still gathering details of all those detained.Patna Police had not issued any official statement on the matter till the filing of this report. Efforts to contact the Patna SSP and other police officials for their version were unsuccessful.
