Muzaffarpur accident: BJP suspends vehicle owner from party

Patna (Bihar) [India] Feb. 26 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on suspended Manoj Baitha from party's membership for six years for his involvement in Muzaffarpur accident in which nine students were killed.

Baitha is owner of the SUV that ran over nine children and injured around 20 outside their government school at Dharampur village in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Modi had said strict action against will be taken against the main accused in the Muzaffarpur accident.

Speaking to ANI, Modi said that the government will adopt no leniency, irrespective of the affiliation of the accused.

Soon after the accident, the Opposition started cornering Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the BJP.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav was the first to allege that the vehicle involved in the Muzaffarpur accident belonged to a BJP General Secretary and the driver was intoxicated.

"We are being told the vehicle belongs to a BJP General Secretary and the driver is absconding and administration has not been able to arrest him so far. Relatives of the deceased are saying that the vehicle has a BJP board attached to it and people in it were intoxicated," Tejashwi told ANI on Saturday.

The RJD leader said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi were trying to shield the culprit.

He also questioned: Where did the driver get the liquor from when there is a ban on liquor in the state?

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday also accused Nitish Kumar of shielding the accused.

Rahul tweeted: "A drunken BJP leader killed nine innocent children in Bihar where liquor is banned! Nitish ji, is it realty of your liquor ban? Your conscience is shielding whom- accused BJP leader, or reality of Bihar's liquor ban?"

On 26 November 2015, Nitish Kumar announced that alcohol would be banned in the state from April 1, 2016. Kumar officially declared the total liquor ban on April 5, 2016. (ANI)