RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday, 12 July 2026, alleged that a 25-year-old grocery shopkeeper, Banti Kumar, was kidnapped near Patna Junction on 6 July after he opposed a sex racket allegedly operating under police and political patronage in Karbigahiya, Patna. Yadav claimed that under pressure from an RJD delegation, police recovered the victim's mutilated body from the Athamalgoala police station area in Patna Rural, but only after initially scolding the family instead of investigating.

Context

In his post, Yadav stated that CCTV footage clearly captured the abduction, yet police — whom he accused of 'guiding the criminals' (अपराधियों को दिशा-निर्देश देने वाली पुलिस) — failed to search for the victim. An RJD delegation met the victim's wife and facilitated a telephone conversation with him before the body was recovered. Yadav said this sequence of events makes it 'clear that the police knew everything all along.'

Yadav further quoted local residents as saying that those running the sex racket openly claim that proceeds reach up to the Chief Minister's residence. He demanded that Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary identify the leaders of such criminal syndicates and explain why the government has failed to act.

Political backdrop

Yadav pointedly noted that the area around Patna Junction — where sex rackets have allegedly proliferated since the current BJP-led government took office — is also home to a BJP cabinet minister's residence and is associated with the BJP national president. He questioned what nexus exists between those at the top of power and those running flesh trade operations.

Bihar has long operated under the Bihar Prohibition of Liquor Act, 2016, which was intended to crack down on organised crime including liquor syndicates. Opposition parties, including the RJD, have repeatedly used delegations to victims' families as a political tool to highlight alleged police inaction, a pattern that has intensified around Patna's urban transport hubs where commercial and political interests intersect.

Stakeholders and impact

The victim's family, local residents of Karbigahiya, and civil society groups in Patna are the most immediately affected. Yadav's post amplifies their grievance to a statewide audience, placing pressure on the state administration to respond publicly. The case also implicates the credibility of the police machinery in Patna Rural district, given the allegation that officers were aware of the victim's whereabouts but withheld information from the family.

Yadav directly challenged the Chief Minister, asking why a government that has ordered 'fake encounters of innocents' (बेगुनाहों का झूठा एनकाउंटर) is 'afraid of liquor mafias, sex racket operators and criminal gangs.' The framing positions the ruling alliance as selectively applying state force.

What's next

The RJD is expected to raise the matter in the Bihar Legislative Assembly, potentially through a privilege motion or an adjournment motion demanding a CBI or judicial probe into both the killing and the alleged sex racket network. Any official police statement on the body recovery and the status of the kidnapping case will be closely watched. Whether the state government responds to Yadav's direct challenge to Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary will determine how this controversy develops in the coming days.