Panel may call Amit Shah for finding weight to probe lift trap incident

NEW DELHI: The commission of inquiry set up by the Bihar government to find out why BJP president Amit Shah and four others were trapped inside a lift in a government guest house in Patna on August 20, is set to summon Shah and his ‘fellow travellers’ to place evidence before it.

The commission could ask Shah, three other BJP leaders and his security officer who were in the lift, to step on a weighing machine to officially record their weights, according to sources.

“As per the Commission of Inquiry Act, the summons will be soon issued to those who were trapped inside the lift as well to those officials who were in charge of the maintenance of the government guest house and its facilities, including the operation of the lift,” said the source.

“Since there have been two conflicting claims, with the BJP state leaders alleging a ‘conspiracy’ behind the lift-stranding incident and some officials maintaining it was due to overweight in the lift, the commission will, naturally, probe both angles, including whether the combined weight of the five people stuck in the lift was below or above the officially permissible limit of 340 kg,” the source added.

Amit Shah, along with his senior party colleagues Bhupender Yadav, Saudan Singh, Nagendra and a security officer were trapped in the lift for about 10 minutes before CRPF personnel forcefully opened the door and helped them come out.

People in the know say that after senior state BJP leaders such as CP Thakur and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan alleged a ‘conspiracy’ (by the state government) and ‘insult’ to Shah, Nitish Kumar was extremely upset and angry and decided to constitute a probe panel to find the truth behind the lift-stranding.]

Last Tuesday, the state home department announced the setting up of an inquiry panel, under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, headed by principal secretary (Cabinet Secretariat) Shishir Sinha, principal secretary (building) Deepak Prasad, secretary (energy) Pratyaya Amrit and ADG (headquarters) Sunil Kumar are members of the panel.