Bihar NDA leaders differ on alleged police encounter of youth Bharat Bhushan Tiwari

A day after Bihar Minister and senior JD(U) leader Ashok Choudhary had visited Bilauti village in Bhojpur district of Bihar where Bharat Bhushan Tiwari was killed in alleged police encounter on June 17, and demanded justice for the family, another senior JD(U) leader and Minister Shrawan Kumar on Monday (July 6, 2026) said that Mr Choudhary had visited the village in his individual capacity and whatever he has said was not of party’s statement on the issue.

On his visit, Mr. Choudhary had said that justice has to be done with the family and guilty must be punished

The incident has come as a huge embarrassment for the NDA-led government in Bihar with a BJP Chief Minister, for the first time in the State. Earlier, Union Minister and chief of ruling NDA ally Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) Chirag Paswan too had visited the village and met family members of the youth to term the incident as unjustified but, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (secular), the other ruling NDA ally leader Jitan Ram Manjhi had justified the alleged police encounter in which Mr. Tiwari was killed.

Bharat Bhushan Tiwari (28) a resident of Bilauti village of Bhojpur district in Bihar was killed in an alleged police encounter on June 17 at his village. When fingers were raised by local people and politicians as well, and the incident had created much political hue and cry, the Bihar government ordered a judicial probe while putting some police officials, said to be engaged in the alleged encounter, under suspension. Meanwhile, Asha Devi, mother of deceased youth Bharat Bhushan Tiwari, has announced to sit on a dharna (protest) in the village from July 9, demanding action against those involved in the “killing” of her son.

She said that she would wait till July 8 for action to be taken against them by the government before sitting on a dharna next day. Since the incident, scores of people, even from neighboring districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh, have been visiting Bilauti village to offer condolence and extend their support to the kin of the deceased youth.

“Whatever Ashok Choudhary is saying may be his own statement given in individual capacity, not of party or, of the government. His visit to the village of Bharat Tiwari too was in his individual capacity and it should not be considered as a government’s official move”, said Shrawan Kumar on Monday (July 6, 2026) who is a senior JD(U) leader and Minister of Rural Development, Information and Public Relations Department in Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary’s cabinet.

Mr Kumar, a several time JD(U) MLA from Nalanda constituency, further said that “whoever is making such statements should do it after much thought”. Earlier, president of another ruling NDA ally in Bihar, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Jitan Ram Manjhi too had “justified” the alleged police encounter of Mr Tiwari while questioning, “why the deceased was allegedly carrying a revolver if his intentions were innocent?”. On Sunday (July 5, 2026), Bihar Minister and senior JD(U) leader Ashok Choudhary had visited Mr Tiwari’s village and met his grieving family members there.

Another ruling NDA alliance partner Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief and Union Minister of Food Processing Industries Chirag Paswan had not only visited Bilauti village on July 3 to meet the grieving family members but, also demanded “immediate arrest of police personnel accused”.

“It was a murder in the name of police encounter…all those accused in the case must be arrested”, he said while speaking to media persons. Mr Paswan further said that “If Bharat had surrendered, he could have been arrested and a thorough investigation could have been done in the case. Why did the cops kill him? If the upholders of law start violating it, people will lose faith in the law of the land”. Several other leaders like Independent MP from Purnea Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, Jan Suraaj Party founder and former poll-strategist Prashant Kishor and others too had visited Bilauti village to offer their condolences .

After a two-day stand off in the Bhojpur district, police had killed Bharat Bhushan Tiwari (28), in an alleged police encounter on June 17’ 2026 claiming that they encountered him in “self-defense after he fired upon them”. However, Tiwari’s family members and local villagers alleged it was an encounter executed in staged- manner by the police and they, even citing Tiwari’s social media posts as evidence, further saying that Tiwari had attempted to surrender by throwing his revolver before the policemen.