A TV grab shows Aurangzeb being tied to the police bike

Bhagalpur, Aug. 30: The Bhagalpur policemen who tied an alleged thief to a bike and dragged him 500 yards to a police station earlier this week have been sacked.

Assistant sub-inspector Ram Balak Singh and constable Ramchandar Rai, from the Nathnagar police station, had already been suspended for their “inhuman treatment” of Aurangzeb.

Bhagalpur police superintendent J.S. Ganwar said action was taken against the duo after they were found “guilty of inhuman acts”.

The deputy inspector- general of police (Bhagal- pur range), G.N. Sharma, ordered the sacking of the assistant inspector. Ganwar fired the constable.

The crackdown came as the CPI(ML) called for a Bhagalpur bandh on Friday in protest against the incident. Former party MP Rameshwar Prasad said the RJD and the Congress have supported the shutdown call.

RJD activists were prevented from taking out a protest march. The BJP, part of the ruling coalition, said the restrictions were meant for all political parties.

Aurangzeb, accused by a woman of snatching her chain that was later found on him, was kicked and beaten up by a mob on Monday before being tied to Singh’s bike and dragged to the police station. The 22-year-old is now in a jail hospital.

On Wednesday, protests against the incident took on a communal hue as members of a minority community, to which Aurangzeb belongs, tried to beat up a man like the way the alleged chain-snatcher was. Rumours that the community was being targeted fuelled the tension.