High drama at Bihar police station as Prashant Kishor claims party workers detained hours before Bankipur bypoll

Just hours before voting began in Bihar's Bankipur assembly constituency, Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder and a candidate in the poll Prashant Kishor reached Jakkanpur police station on Wednesday night along with several supporters to confront the Station House Officer (SHO) over alleged detainment of multiple Jan Suraaj party workers.Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor alleged that BJP was behind detention of his party workers and supporters because “it knows it is going to lose the bypoll”. (File Photo/PTI)High drama unfolded at the police station with Kishor and his supporters speaking alleging that two workers of his party were detained and brought to the police station illegally before being moved to some other location, news agency ANI reported. Kishor and his supporters were seen arguing with Jakkanpur police station SHO Rituraj Kumar Singh in videos from the spot."...If any harm comes to them (party workers allegedly detained), Rituraj Kumar Singh, the SHO of Jakkanpur police station, will certainly lose his job. He should be well aware of that," Kishor was quoted as saying by ANI."The entire public of Bihar has witnessed this: Rituraj Kumar Singh is the SHO here, and two people were brought in illegally. He detained them at the station for hours before having them transferred elsewhere," Kishor said.Also read: Prashant Kishor calls Nitish Kumar campaign video ‘AI’, JD(U) files complaint: What we knowHe further alleged that the cops were not giving information about the workers and that the SHO said he does not know where they have been taken. "They aren't providing any information, there is no record of it, and the officer claims he doesn't even know where they were taken," Kishor said.The JSP founder said that Singh “does not even know which superior officer issued the order” for detaining the party workers and said that it was not “his job to ask his superiors”.According to a PTI report, Kishor also alleged that 16 of his supporters were also picked by police at the behest of Bharatiya Janata Party."I am not describing these as arrests since there is no record of which of my people have been named in which case. I came to this police station after learning that they had been kept at the Jakkanpur police station. But, here I am told that they have all been taken to different police stations. The SHO here even claims that the police station was not involved in the detentions, which were carried out at the instance of higher-ups," Kishor said, as quoted by PTI.He alleged that it was clear that the BJP was behind these detentions because “it knows it is going to lose the bypoll”.Also read: Prashant Kishor’s gamble: Why Bankipur bypoll is key contest for political existence of Jan Suraaj? ExplainedRow over Nitish Kumar's ‘fake video’Kishor called a video of Nitish Kumar released on Monday, in which he is seen seeking votes for the NDA alliance in the bypoll, as “fake”, leading to a police complaint against him by Janata Dal (United)."Realising that the ground was slipping from under its feet, the BJP even got a fake video of JD(U) president Nitish Kumar in which the longest serving chief minister of Bihar was shown as seeking votes for its candidate," Kishor had said.He also called the video "AI-generated and deepfake"Following this, JD(U) MLC Neeraj Kumar filed a police complaint against Kishor for allegedly "disrespecting" former chief minister Nitish Kumar.“We have submitted a complaint against Kishor at the Shastri Nagar police station. Just ahead of the Bankipur assembly by-election, Kishor, who is reportedly an affluent individual with assets worth more than ₹190 crore, has insulted the former CM,” Kumar said.“He (Kishor) said an AI-generated video has been circulated. Has Nitish Kumar ever done anything artificial? Who has the audacity to create an artificial video of Nitish Kumar,” he added.Bankipur bypollPrashant Kishor is making his political debut with bypoll in Bankipur where he is facing BJP's Neeraj Kumar Sinha, a youth wing leader, as his primary competition.In assembly polls held in Bihar last year, Kishor's JSP failed to win even a single seat in the state.Voting in Bankipur started on Thursday morning at 7 am and will continue till 6pm.Around 3.80 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 26 candidates, including Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor, who is making his electoral debut.Around 3.80 lakh voters are eligible to vote in the constituency.Bankipur seat was vacated by BJP's Nitin Nabin after he was elected to the Rajya Sabha in April.(With inputs from ANI, PTI)