Patna:
Under attack from the Opposition for allegedly influencing the probe into the murder of Purnia MLA Raj Kishore Keshri, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi today urged Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to order a CBI inquiry into the case.
"Though the Bihar police is competent enough to carry forward the investigation, it will be better to hand it over to CBI," Modi said in a letter to Kumar before leaving for Guwahati to attend the national executive meeting of the BJP.
Both Modi and the slain legislator Keshri belong to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while Kumar, who holds the home department, is from JD(U) in the coalition government.
"It (CBI probe) is also the demand of BJP and the family members of Keshri," he said.
"I know it well that Bihar police is more competent than the CBI to probe the case, but since Keshri is from the ruling party, the Opposition will continue to raise fingers against the fair and independent probe by Bihar police," Modi pointed out in his letter.
Alleging that his political opponents were engaging in his character assassination, Modi said "concocted allegations are being levelled by them against Keshri who is not alive to give a befitting reply".
"The family members of the slain legislator now also feel that the case should be handed over to the CBI," he said.
Chief Opposition RJD-LJP, besides Congress and Left parties have accused Modi of influencing the course of the police investigation and called for a CBI probe.
Modi's letter to the chief minister is being seen as an attempt to silence the Opposition.
"Modi's statement seeking to give clean chit to the slain MLA and describing Rupam Pathak, the accused in the MLA murder case, as a blackmailer and mentally unfit aim at influencing the ongoing police probe," RJD spokesman Shakeel Ahmed Khan alleged earlier in the day.
"The reasons that prompted the woman to take the extreme step must also be inquired into," Khan had demanded.
Pathak, accused of stabbing the MLA to death in full public view in Purnia on January 4, had earlier lodged a complaint of sexual harassment against Keshri. She, however, had withdrawn the charge later.