On May 31, 2018, a complaint under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was filed in Patna’s special SC/ST court in Bihar. The complainant recorded his statement on June 2. The court issued an arrest warrant against the accused, “Durgesh Singh”, on August 16. The warrant somehow reached Manish Agrawal, the SP of Barmer in Rajasthan. According to Agrawal, Durg Singh Rajpurohit was arrested by the Barmer Rural police station and sent to Bihar.

Rajpurohit is a Barmer-based journalist associated with India News Rajasthan. His name is Durg Singh Rajpurohit, not Durgesh Singh. Also, no police team from Bihar came to arrest the accused. Instead, the Barmer police showed a proactive approach in the case and ensured that Rajpurohit surrendered in front of the SC/ST court in Patna.

Most importantly, SP Agrawal told Newslaundry, “As it is a routine police matter, I don’t recall through which media or communication channel the arrest warrant reached us. It was addressed in SP Barmer’s name [his name].” He said the police did its duty by ensuring Rajpurohit was produced in front of the Patna court.

There are several aspects to the arrest of Rajpurohit. Right from the date of the crime, to the complainant, and the absentee Bihar police in the matter—considering that the case was registered in Bihar and not Rajasthan—these raise serious question marks on the circumstances under which he was arrested. 

First, let’s go back to the complaint filed in the court.

According to a statement submitted in court, Rakesh Paswan, 26, a resident of Digha Ghat of Patna, was assaulted by Durgesh Singh, 38. As per the statement, the accused also hurled casteist slurs at him. In his statement, Paswan said Durg runs several businesses in Rajasthan, and that he worked for the accused in Barmer for six months. The accused didn’t pay him his wages of ₹72,000. His statement further reads that after he returned to Bihar, considering his father’s poor health, the accused on three occasions came to Patna, pressuring him and threatening him to return to work. The document submitted in court said the incidents took place on April 15, April 28, and May 7, 2018.

As per Paswan’s statement, on May 7, the accused and four others forced him out of his house in Digha Ghat. The accused passed casteist slurs and beat him up on the road. When a crowd gathered, the accused and the four others “fled in a Bolero car”. The complaint has these specifics.

On August 18, Rajpurohit and his family members, along with three police personnel of the Rajasthan police, left Barmer and reached Patna on Monday, August 20. He was kept at Pirbahore police station in transit, and was presented in the SC/ST court on Tuesday, August 21.

The twist in the entire story came to light when Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar published a report on August 21. Rakesh Paswan, the complainant, told Dainik Bhaskar: “I didn’t file the case; [I] have not been to Barmer.” Ripping apart the entire basis of the arrest, Paswan told the Hindi daily he doesn’t even know of any Durgesh Singh from Barmer. The report claims Paswan said that Sanjay Singh, a witness in the case, had asked him to file a case against someone, but he had refused to do so. Until two months ago, Paswan used to drive a JCB owned by Sanjay Singh.

Dainik Bhaskar’s (Patna edition) investigation into Rajpurohit’s arrest was published on August 21

Durg Singh Rajpurohit’s father, Guman Singh, told Newslaundry that Rajpurohit surrendered in the SC/ST court in Patna on Tuesday. He said, “We have moved the bail petition. The court will resume on Thursday; that is when we are expecting the bail application to be processed.”

Dev Kishan, 75, Rajpurohit’s former teacher and a Barmer-based freelance journalist, accompanied the family to Patna. He told Newslaundry, “Durg was called by SP Barmer on Saturday (August 18) and was informed about the arrest warrant. When Durg spoke about the due process involved in such legal issues, the SP said that he has been arrested—that is when four police personnel were called in.” According to Dev Kishan’s claim, the family booked a car in which he, Durg, Guman Singh, Durg’s brother Bhawani Singh Rajpurohit, and three Rajasthan police personnel left for Patna on Saturday evening.

Kishan also said the SP “received the [arrest] warrant on WhatsApp”, and not through an official channel.

If these claims are to be believed, then the question is: why did the Rajasthan police not arrange transportation for the accused and its personnel? This question went unanswered when asked to Barmer SP Manish Agrawal, who told Newslaundry “it was a routine matter”. Rejecting the family’s claim, SP Agrawal said Rajpurohit was not arrested by the SP’s office, but was arrested by the Barmer Rural police station. When we asked why a team of Bihar police didn’t come to arrest Rajpurohit and sought other details, SP Agrawal said he had other work to do.

Arrest warrant issued by Special judge SC/ST Court, Patna

This correspondent called Kishan Singh, station house officer (SHO) Barmer Rural, to know the specifics of the case. He confirmed that Rajpurohit was arrested in connection to arrest warrant issued by the Patna court, but disconnected the call when asked about details of the arrest and the team which arrested the journalist.

Newslaundry also spoke to the SHOs of two police stations in Patna—Digha, where the incident took place, and Pirbahore, where Durg was kept in transit. The SHO Digha said no FIR was lodged at his police station against the Rajasthan journalist. The SHO Pirbahore got irritated when asked on what basis his station had kept Durg in transit remand. He said, “It is the Rajasthan police team’s choice where they wanted to stay overnight. As the accused was supposed to be present in the court on Tuesday, they had to spend Monday night somewhere. They chose the police station.”

The SHO Pirbahore disconnected the call when asked whether the Barmer journalist was kept in the lockup.

The family said that contrary to the claims made in the complaint against Durg, he is a journalist, not a businessman. His brother Bhawani Singh said, “Durg is a journalist in Barmer, and his father is a government employee. No one in his immediate family runs a business.” The complaint had said Durgesh Singh employed labourers for his mining business.

Rajpurohit’s father also told Newslaundry that his son has never even travelled to Bihar, let alone Patna. “On May 7, he was in Barmer attending some literary event.”

This correspondent scrolled through the Facebook timeline of Durg Singh Rajpurohit, and found he was in Barmer on the day the alleged attack on Paswan was carried out. This is the image from an open mic event organised in a Barmer café on May 7.

Ayodhya Prasad Gaur, an author standing next to Durg Singh Rajpurohit in the picture, confirmed to Newslaundry that Rajpurohit had attended the same event in Barmer on May 7. “It was an open mic event; they invited me as a guest as I am an author. Durg was present in the same event,” Gaur said, adding that this can be verified from the pictures posted on his Facebook account.

How then is it possible that Rajpurohit assaulted Paswan in Patna, and also attended an event in Barmer on the same day?

The complainant’s claim that he didn’t file the FIR, the circumstances of the arrest, and moreover the prima facie evidence which shows the journalist was in Barmer and not in Patna on the day of the claimed incident—what does this say about the conduct of the police? The fact that the Barmer police are dodging questions related to Rajpurohit’s arrest and transit is not helping their cause either.