After spat with BJP MP, Pappu Yadav arrested for defying lockdown

PTI, May 11, 2021, 7:03 PM IST

Patna: Controversial former MP Pappu Yadav, who hit the headlines recently for a spat with a BJP parliamentarian in Bihar, was on Tuesday rounded up by police here and booked for alleged violation of coronavirus lockdown.

He was picked up by the police from his Mandiri residence in connection with an FIR lodged at the Pir Bahore police station in the city.

Yadav is said to have created a ruckus at the nearby Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) nearby early in the morning. A case was subsequently lodged against him under the Disaster Management Act and IPC sections involving thwarting government servants from the discharge of their duty, SHO of the police station Rizwan Ahmed told PTI-Bhasha.

It was not exactly known what happened at PMCH but the arrest of Yadav, who now heads the Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) which is yet to taste electoral success, drew flak from his supporters as well as sympathizers within the ruling NDA.

Founding president of Hindustani Awam Morcha Jitan Ram Manjhi, whose son Santosh Suman is a minister in the Nitish Kumar government, warned of public anger over the detention.

If a public representative serves the people day and night and ends up being arrested, then it is an instance that is portentous for humanity, said Manjhi in a tweet referring to acts of charity during the pandemic by Yadav, whom he took care not to mention by name.

In such matters, action should be taken only after a judicial inquiry else there could be an outburst of public anger, added Manjhi, who has of late been speaking in a discordant voice leaving his partners in the NDA flustered.

Another minister Mukesh Sahni, founding president of the fledgling Vikassheel Insaan Party, too spoke disapprovingly of Yadav”s detention.

Meanwhile, the social media was abuzz with JAP supporters alleging that Yadav was being harassed because he recently took on Rajiv Pratap Rudy, the BJP MP from Saran, over the issue of a large number of ambulances lying unused at the latters premises.

Rudy had hit back, brandishing a letter he had written to the Saran district magistrate about his inability to ply these vehicles bought with funds at his disposal under the MPLAD scheme for want of drivers who were reluctant to take up the job out of fear of the raging pandemic.

In the letter, copies of which went viral on the social media, Rudy had urged the district magistrate to consider roping in drivers who are out of job because of the lockdown but are willing to take up the work.

He had also taunted Yadav saying that the former Madhepura MP is welcome to use the ambulances if he could bring drivers.

Yadav, a maverick once disqualified from contesting polls upon conviction in a murder case in which he was later acquitted by Supreme Court, had interestingly claimed that he came to know about Rudys ambulances after he conducted a raid on the MPs premises.

Saran has been a pocketborough of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, who is not known to be on best terms with Yadav despite having fielded him on a party ticket more than once.

The RJD has understandably maintained a studied silence over all recent controversies involving the former Madhepura MP.

Meanwhile, police said as per law Yadav could be either sent to jail or released on bail in the PMCH case. A final call will be taken after consultations with higher ups.