2016 Rajya Sabha horse trading case: Police approaches court to book former CM for corruption

By LE Desk

Ranchi, June 2, 2021: In a new development in the 2016 Rajya Sabha horse trading case, Ranchi police has moved court to invoke charges under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act against former chief minister and BJP leader Raghubar Das, who has been made another accused in the case.

Filing an application with the court in this regard, police stated evidence collected in the horse trading case prima facie indicated involvement of Das who committed offences under PC Act. “Informing the court about new developments in the case is a legal process that has to be followed. The investigating officer of the case, therefore, filed the application,” said Ranchi’s senior superintendent of police Surendra Jha, as reported by the Hindustan Times.

Controversy gripped the 2016 Rajya Sabha biennial polls after BJP candidates Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Mahesh Poddar made it to the upper house on two vacant seats from Jharkhand, election for which was held on June 11 that year.

The election of BJP’s second candidate, Poddar, came as a surprise, as the party didn’t have sufficient number of votes.

Soon after the elections, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) chief Babulal Marandi introduced horse trading charges against the then ruling BJP, alleging that some people at the helm of power adopted corrupt practices to influence the legislators to secure their votes in favour of BJP candidates.

Marandi, who is now BJP’s leader of opposition, filed a complaint at the time before the Election Commission of India (ECI), annexing with it a compact disc (CD) containing telephonic conversations between the then additional director general, CID, Anurag Gupta, the then chief minister Rahubar Das’ political advisor Ajay Kumar and a former Congress minister Yogendra Sao, whose wife Nirmala Devi was then a sitting legislator.

It was alleged that Gupta and Kumar coerced Sao to convince his wife Devi not to vote in the polls. They allegedly offered ₹5 crore to Sao and assured him to withdraw several criminal cases pending against him.

Finding the allegations prima facie true, the ECI on June 13, 2017, issued a letter to the state chief secretary, asking him to initiate legal action in the matter. An FIR was then registered in March 2018 against Gupta and Kumar under Sections 171 (E) ( punishment for bribery) and 171 (F) (punishment for undue influence or personation at an election) of the IPC. The case was currently under investigation.

After the change of guard in the state, the incumbent Hemant Soren government in February last year suspended Gupta and initiated departmental inquiry against him. Besides, corruption charges were also invoked against him.

The case has now taken a new turn, after the home department gave its nod to arraign Das, who was not named in the FIR, as accused and asked police to invoke corruption charges against him. The charges, if proved in a court of law, prescribe a minimum of one year sentence which can be extended up to a maximum of seven years.

Reacting to the move, Das said, “The police have thoroughly failed in last four years to collect any evidence in this case. In order to keep this case alive, some competent officers following the government’s diktat are trying to include new offences in this case. It’s the beginning of vendetta politics in the state. But, one should not forget that nothing is permanent here”, the Hindustan Times reported.

Police made Das as an accused on the basis of statements of former Congress minister Yogendra Sao and his wife Nirmala Devi. The duo earlier informed the police that Das allegedly offered them ₹5 crore to abstain from voting process and assured them to withdraw all pending cases against them. They also informed that a day before the election on June 10, 2016, Das visited Sao at their house.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/ranchi-news/2016-rajya-sabha-horse-trading-case-police-approaches-court-to-book-former-cm-for-corruption-101622559898511.html