Yashwant Sinha granted bail

The BJP leader on Wednesday secured bail from a local court having spent a fortnight in prison following his refusal to seek relief after his arrest during a power crisis stir

This June 4, 2014 picture shows senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha along with ohers being remanded in judicial custody by a local court in Hazaribagh after they refused to seek bail in a case of alleged assault of a Jharkhand State Electricity Board official.

A day after BJP veteran L K Advani met him at Hazaribagh jail, party leader Yashwant Sinha on Wednesday secured bail from a local court having spent a fortnight in prison following his refusal to seek relief after his arrest during a power crisis stir.

Chief Judicial Magistrate R B Pal granted the bail after Mr Sinha’s counsel Anil Kumar Sinha and Raj Kumar Raju moved the bail petition.

Mr. Sinha

>was in judicial remand from June 3 in connection with an alleged assault of a government official in Hazaribagh the previous day.

After meeting Mr. Sinha in jail, Mr. Advani had told reporters on Tuesday that Mr. Sinha should leave jail after securing bail and lead the ongoing agitation by BJP against the power crisis in Jharkhand.

Mr. Sinha was also the ‘right person’ to be chief minister after the Assembly elections later this year, he had said.

Mr. Sinha and several of his supporters were arrested on June 2 after JSEB General Manager (Hazaribagh Branch) Dhanesh Jha filed an FIR accusing them of tying him up during their demonstration near his office.

The following day the court remanded them to judicial custody for 14 days after all the accused refused to seek bail.

The court extended their remand till June 28 after they stayed away from moving bail again on June 16.

On June 12, BJP leaders Shahnawaz Hussain and Rajiv Pratap Rudy as emissaries of BJP president Rajnath Singh had urged Mr. Sinha to obtain bail and participate in the party’s state-wide agitation.

Besides Mr. Sinha, all his supporters were also granted bail by the court on Tuesday.