Police, retired army personnel spar over thrashing of bank guard

The Veterans Organization of Jharkhand (VoJ) had a face-off with the Jharkhand Police Association (JPA) on Thursday over the alleged beating up of a former army man and Punjab National Bank (PNB) guard Ashok Kumar Yadav by the suspended officer-in-charge of Deoghar town police station, Ratan Singh Singhsingh. Singh was suspended on Wednesday in connection with the alleged assault which took place on the PNB bank branch premises on January 2. Chief Minister Hemant Soren's office issued a statement Thursday saying that following directives from the CM, Dumka Dig Sudarshan Prasad Mandal has suspended Singh with immediate effect. Meanwhile, the VoJ members staged a protest at the Albert Ekka Chowk here to condemn the incident. The JPA members said they will meet the Chief Minister to demand a high-level inquiry into the incident and withdrawal of Singh's suspension and the fir against him with immediate effect. According to the VoJ members, Yadav's only fault was that while on duty, he asked Singh why the latter was entering the bank with arms. It is alleged that Singh and his team members beat up Yadav destroyed his mobile phone and then dragged him to the