Five daily wage employees of a forest department guest house in Nalanda district were allegedly assaulted by the police inside a police station, following which its station house officer (SHO) was suspended on Sunday, officials said.
In a video, an angry Nalanda Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) was purportedly seen to be threatening to take the police to the court in connection of the assault.
The five were picked them up on Saturday on the charge of stealing a television from the guest house at Rajgir. They were taken to a jungle and beaten up by police. They were again thrashed inside Rajgir police station, officials said.
Rajgir police station SHO Vijendra Kumar was suspended on Sunday by Nalanda Superintendent of Police Sudhir Kumar Porika, officials said adding that the five were also released during the day.
Following the incident, a video of Nalanda (DFO) Dr Nesmani angrily talking to the SP face to face has gone viral on social media.
"We were not expecting this from you. It seems that the SHO is either beyond your control or you are not paying proper attention," Nesmani was seen telling Porika.
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"Among the five persons, there is a man who serves food to the chief minister. We will get the medical examination of all the five persons done and take the police to court," the DFO said.
After seeing the scars on their bodies, it appeared that they have been beaten with baton for more than 100 times, he said.
After getting information about the incident, Patna (central range) DIG Rajesh Kumar asked Porika to suspend the SHO for his lapses.