Facing imminent arrest for his alleged hate speech, BJP leader Giriraj Singh on Thursday applied for anticipatory bail in the district court here hours after a joint team of Bihar and Jharkhand police raided his house to arrest him.
He filed the anticipatory bail plea in the court of district judge Virendra Kumar who listed the matter for hearing on Friday.
Mr. Singh has sought anticipatory bail in connection with an FIR lodged against him at the Airport police station here on April 21 under provisions of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1950 and Indian Penal Code(IPC).
The FIR against him was lodged by a district officer on the direction of the Election Commission which had taken note of his statement defending his controversial remarks in Jharkhand that those who opposed Narendra Modi should go to Pakistan.
Mr. Singh, a former minister in the Nitish Kumar government, had made the controversial remark during an election meeting in Jharkhand’s Deoghar district on April 19.
He had also said that the Centre was giving subsidy for export of beef while taxing those who reared cows.
Two FIRs were lodged against him at Deogarh and Bokaro in Jharkhand for the comments and the one in Patna at the behest of the Election Commission, which barred him from campaigning in the two states.
The BJP leader had on Wednesday said he will surrender before a court either in Bihar or in Jharkhand on Thursday.
