Bihar ruling party Janata Dal (United)’s controversial MLA Sunil Pandey was arrested on Saturday in connection with the Ara civil court bomb blast case and remanded in 14 days’ judicial custody.
The MLA is an accused in many cases of kidnapping and extortion and was known for his reign of terror in Bhojpur district of the State.
Earlier, another JD(U) MLA from Mokama, Anant Singh was arrested in an old kidnapping case and sent to jail.
Police officials said the name of Pandey, who represents Tarari in the House, had come up during interrogation of the prime accused in the Ara civil court bomb blast case, Sachidanand Sharma alias Lambu Sharma.
“The MLA has been arrested and sent to judicial custody,” Superintendent of Police Navin Chandra Jha told The Hindu .
Confessional statementIn his confessional statement, Lambu Sharma said that the JD(U) MLA facilitated his escape police custody and provided shelter in Delhi, said police officials. Sharma also admitted that Sunil Pandey gave him a Rs. 50-lakh contract to kill an Uttar Pradesh gangster-turned-MLA Mukhtar Ansari.
On January 23, Lambu Sharma along with his associate Akhilesh Upadhayay escaped from police custody while being produced in the Ara civil court taking advantage of the chaos that followed an explosion triggered by a human bomb. Two persons, including the woman who was carrying the bomb, were killed and several others injured.
Later, police arrested Akhilesh Upadhyay but Lambu Sharma was arrested only recently in New Delhi by a joint police team of Bihar and Delhi.
The arrested MLA, meanwhile, alleged that a conspiracy was hatched by his political rivals to get him arrested.
“The district SP called me for a meeting to his office and when I went there he placed me under arrest. I will now approach court for relief, ” Pandey told journalists.
Criminal historyThe RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, though, said Pandey had criminal history. “Their activities brought a bad name to the government. It will not happen now,” declared Mr. Lalu Prasad.
However, the Opposition BJP took a dig at the government over the arrest of Pandey. “Why had the Nitish Kumar government not taken action against Sunil Pandey in the last five years? It is an image-building exercise,” said senior state BJP leader and party MLA Prem Kumar.
Published - July 12, 2015 12:56 am IST
