Bihar assembly election: In a jolt to Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the party’s candidate from Sasaram, Satendra Sah was arrested immediately after he filed his nomination papers from the assembly seat, officials said. Sah was apprehended by the Jharkhand Police as a non-bailable warrant (NBW) was pending against him. His supporters were clueless about the developments as the cops took him into custody in a 20-year-old bank robbery case.
“As Sah reached the office of the circle officer concerned on Monday to file his nomination papers from Sasaram seat, the Jharkhand Police officers arrived there to execute an NBW which was pending against him. He was allowed to file his nomination papers… But soon after, he was arrested,” a senior police officer of Rohtas district said.
What did police say?
The Jharkhand police said Satendra Sah was held as he is an accused in a 2004 bank robbery case at Chirounjiya More in Garhwa district.
Sunil Tiwari, officer-in-charge of Sadar police station in Jharkhand’s Garhwa, said that a permanent warrant was issued against Sah in the robbery case in 2018. Officials said police records indicate that more than 20 cases related to robbery, dacoity, and violations of the Arms Act are pending against him in various police stations.
This was the third such incident when a candidate of a INDIA bloc party was arrested after filing their nomination papers in the Bihar polls. CPI(ML) Liberation’s candidates from Bhore and Darauli seats, Jitendra Paswan and Satyadeo Ram, respectively, were also arrested after filing their nomination papers.
CPI(ML) Liberation then issued a statement condemning the arrests.
“We strongly condemn the politically motivated arrests of Comrade Jitendra Paswan and Comrade Satyadeo Ram… They were arrested right outside the nomination centres immediately after filing their papers. “These arrests, under fabricated and baseless charges, clearly reveal the fear and panic among the NDA leaders, who feel threatened by the rising assertion of the masses and the people’s determination to bring change in Bihar,” the party had said.
“Unable to confront the growing anger against its failed ‘double-engine’ government”, the BJP-JD(U) alliance is resorting to “repression, intimidation, and misuse of police and administrative machinery to silence democratic opposition and suppress people’s voices”, it had alleged.
Who is Satendra Sah?
Satendra Sah is RJD’s candidate from the key seat of Sasaram for Bihar assembly election. He previous elections 2005, 2010 and 2015. In 2020, RJD candidate Rajesh Kumar Gupta had won the seat, and his ticket was cut by the party.
There are multiple criminal cases against the politician. According to his previous affidavits: there are 4 charges under IPC Section 307 (Attempt to murder) against him, 4 charges under IPC Section 395 (Dacoity), 2 charges under IPC Section 302 (Murder), 1 charge under IPC Section 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons), 1 charge under IPC Section 326 (Voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons), 1 charge under IPC Section 364A (Kidnapping for ransom, etc), other charges listed included Sections 34, 353, 414, 120B, 504, 397, 452, 402, 349, 341.
The 243-member Bihar assembly will go to polls in two phases on November 6 and 11, with results set to be announced on November 14.