Patna: Krishna Swaroop Dwivedi's appointment as the director-general of police (DGP) has reminded people of the recommendation of the judicial commission set up by chief minister Nitish Kumar to probe the 1989 Bhagalpur riots in which over 1,000 people were killed and scores injured.

According to official figures, 1,070 people were killed and 524 injured. Fifteen out of 21 blocks of Bhagalpur were riot-affected. At least 11,500 houses in 195 villages were destroyed, displacing 48,000 people. Six hundred power looms and 1,700 handlooms were burnt down. A total of 68 mosques and 20 mazars (tombs) were destroyed.

The 1,000-page report of the commission headed by retired judge N.N. Singh was tabled on the floor of the Legislative Assembly on August 7, 2015. The report submitted to the government in February that year (2015) had identified 125 officers in the IAS, the IPS and the state services and recommended action against them for their negligence and acts of omission and commission.

Nitish set up a fresh commission of inquiry into the Bhagalpur riots in 2006, after he became chief minister in 2005. About the action taken report, the state government said in the Assembly that a five-member committee led by chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh would look into the matter.

Three years down the line, no action had been taken against the erring officials, including those posted in Jharkhand and on central deputation. Referring to the report, a senior IAS officer said: "The report held inaction by the then Congress government, the local administration and the police responsible for the clashes."

Chief secretary Singh could not be contacted for comment. "He will not like to comment on the issue as the House is in session," a principal-secretary rank IAS officer told The Telegraph on Saturday.

Dwivedi, a 1984-batch IPS officer, was the Bhagalpur superintendent of police when riots broke out in the district headquarters town in 1989. A commission of inquiry later indicted Dwivedi for the alleged partisan role of the police.

"His (Dwivedi's) communal bias was fully demonstrated, not (only) by the manner of arresting the Muslims but also by not extending adequate help to protect them," the inquiry commission report said. However, he was given a clean chit in due course of time.