The political temperature in Bihar has reached a boiling point after Leader of the Opposition and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav injected a sensational 'caste angle' into the recent spate of police encounters. Ever since Samrat Choudhary took charge as the Chief Minister following his previous aggressive stint as the Deputy CM holding the Home Ministry portfolio the Bihar Police and Special Task Force (STF) have dramatically accelerated their crackdown on hardcore criminals. However, this high-speed anti-crime drive has now found itself entangled in a fierce political crossfire.Tejashwi Yadav has directly accused the state machinery of selectively targeting individuals based on their caste, asking provocatively when high-profile rapists would face similar actions. But does this explosive allegation hold ground when evaluated against the hard data of the state's latest crime crackdowns? Let’s look into the operational data of the last 35 days under the Choudhary administration.Decoding the 35-Day Blitz: The Operational Ledger of 2 'Full' and 9 'Half' EncountersDuring the initial 35 days of Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary's current tenure, the state police infrastructure executed exactly 11 tactical encounters. In the terminology of law enforcement tracking, these actions resulted in two "full encounters" (fatalities) and nine "half encounters" (where criminals were wounded, shot in the legs, and successfully apprehended).The two individuals neutralized in full encounters carried records of heinous crimes:Ramdhani Yadav: Shot dead in a fierce gunfight after he brazenly stormed the Sultanganj Municipal Council office, assassinating an executive officer and fatally injuring the council chairman.Suno Yadav: Neutralized by security forces in Siwan. He was wanted for a road-rage incident that escalated into the cold-blooded murder of a former BJP MLC's nephew and left another relative critically wounded.Fact-Checking the Caste Allegations: What Do the Numbers Reveal?While criminal syndicates operate entirely independent of social identities, a forensic breakdown of the 11 recent encounters reveals a complex picture that challenges a simplistic narrative. Out of the 11 tracked actions, the demographic split consists of 6 individuals belonging to the Yadav community and 5 individuals hailing from non-Yadav communities, including the Rajput and Baniya demographics.The official chronological log of the nine wounded and arrested suspects across various districts includes:Dilip Rai – Apprehended in Patna on April 22Mintu Yadav – Intercepted in Nawada on April 26Chhotu Yadav – Tracked down in Siwan on April 30Awadhish Saw & Pappu Rai – Neutralized in a joint operation in Patna on May 12Ankit Singh – Arrested following a gunfight in Siwan on May 18Sandeep Kumar – Neutralized in Patna on May 18Nitish Singh – Apprehended in Patna on May 19Prins Barnwal – Intercepted in Samastipur on May 20The Dynamic Shifts: Tracking Operations from the Previous TermThe intense pace of police operations is a continuation of policies enacted earlier this year when Samrat Choudhary served as the Deputy CM overseeing the Home Ministry. During that phase, high-profile crackdowns eliminated several notorious gang leaders.In February, the Bihar STF neutralized Prins Kushwaha in Hajipur, an absconding criminal carrying a heavy bounty of ₹2 Lakhs on his head. This was followed by a intense encounter in Motihari in March, which resulted in the elimination of Kundan Thakur and Priyansh Dubey. The duo had directly threatened local law enforcement officials over the phone, and the ensuing gunbattle tragically led to the martyrdom of Bihar Police constable Shriram Yadav.As the state government vows to continue its zero-tolerance policy against organized crime, the political warfare over the profiling of these operations is expected to intensify across Bihar's political landscape.
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