After the recent conviction of RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin, the Bihar police has finally turned the heat on other criminal-turned-politicians cutting across party lines in the state.
Shahabuddin, who had been a law unto himself in Siwan for the past 23 years since 1984, was recently awarded life imprisonment for abducting CPI-ML worker Chote Lal Gupta in 1997.
In a major breakthrough, the police yesterday arrested Rajesh Choudhary, who is the husband of sitting JD(U) MLA Renu Devi.
Acting on a tipoff, a joint team of the Special Task Force(STF) and police picked up Rajesh as soon as he alighted at the Patna junction from the Howrah-Danapur Express. At the time of the arrest, his wife was also accompanying him.
Rajesh was wanted in over two dozen crime cases and was evading arrest by allegedly using his political clout. Muzzafarpur and Sitamari were Rajesh's area of operations.
This was preceded by the arrest of former RJD MLA from Atri in Gaya Rajendra Yadav on Monday. A jail bird, Rajendra, had made a sensational escape from judicial custody in December last year.
Rajendra presently has 18 cases instituted against him ranging from murders to abductions. He was already facing trial in a Gaya fast track court in some cases before he managed to escape.
The Atri and Bathani areas of Gaya district were regarded as Rajendra's fiefdom. His clout in the area could be assessed from the fact that despite being on the run in a murder case, he managed the victory of his wife Kunti Devi from Gaya in 2005 elections.
Sources in the police said trial was almost complete against suspended JD(U) MLA from Piro Sunil Pandey who was facing charges of extortion, besides his drunken brawl in a city hotel where he allegedly threatened to shoot the cameraman of a news channel for shooting his misconduct.
(Tribune)
