Patna: Bihar Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Singh died of COVID on Friday in a private hospital here. Singh who had tested positive recently was undergoing treatment at Paras hospital where he died Friday, hospital director Dr Ahmad Abdul Hai told PTI.

He was appointed as the Chief Secretary after retirement of his predecessor Deepak Kumar on February 28.

A 1985 batch IAS officer, Singh was slated to retire in August end. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar paid rich tributes to the departed bureaucrat.

The CM got information about his death during a meeting of the state cabinet.

Following this, the cabinet observed one minute silence to pay respect to the chief secretary, according to an official statement.

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Bahraich(UP), Dec 20: A government vehicle belonging to the tehsildar of Nanpara hit a biker and allegedly dragged his body for 30 kilometers.

The victim, identified as Narendra Kumar Haldar (35), a resident of Payagpur, was returning home when the accident occurred on the Nanpara-Bahraich road on Thursday evening. According to police, Haldar's body got entangled in the vehicle and was dragged for the entire distance, reaching the Nanpara Tehsil.

Naib Tehsildar Shailesh Kumar Awasthi, who is believed to be present in the vehicle at the time of the accident, has been recommended for suspension by District Magistrate Monika Rani. The vehicle's driver, Meraj Ahmed, has been arrested. Superintendent of Police Vrinda Shukla confirmed the incident and said, "It was confirmed that the body was dragged for 30 kilometers to Nanpara when the locations of the deceased Narendra Haldar and the tehsildar's driver Meraj Ahmed were tracked at the time of the accident."

Stating that the incident was a "big negligence", the officer added, "It is very unlikely that a body was stuck in the vehicle for 30 kilometers and no one came to know about it. It is possible that the vehicle was not stopped due to fear."

The officer said that a thorough investigation is underway to determine the exact circumstances of the accident. "Police are examining CCTV footage along the 30-kilometer route to reconstruct the sequence of events," said the SP.

In the police complaint lodge regarding the matter, the family members of the deceased have mentioned the vehicle of the tehsildar, police said.

District Magistrate Monika Rani said, "The matter of a car colliding with a bike came to notice. The Naib Tehsildar of Nanpara had come to Bahraich in the Tehsildar's car for some work and was returning to Nanpara. It has been learnt that a dead body got stuck with his car that drove till Nanpara Tehsil. According to the naib tehsildar, he was not aware of it. A recommendation has been made to suspend the naib tehsildar who was in the car."