Bihar: RTI activist's murder to be probed by Crime Branch

Under attack from opposition parties and activists, the Bihar government has ordered the Crime Branch to probe the murder of RTI activist Ram Kumar Thakur, a police official said.

Thakur, 48, was shot dead in March after he had filed a complaint with the vigilance department against a Muzaffarpur mukhiya for alleged corruption in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme. Thakur was also an active member of Bihar

MNREGA watch and a lawyer.

"Thakur had filed vigilance cases to expose corruption in several welfare schemes particularly MNREGA. In the Ratnauli panchayat, the administration had shown an expenditure of Rs 40 lakh, whereas people said hardly any money had been spent,” Nagrik Adhikar Manch leader Shiv Prakash Rai, who had sought a probe by the Crime Branch said.

Rai said that Thakur was the sixth whistleblower to be killed in Bihar in last five years.