Starting with the issue of warrant of arrest against the Ranchi Mayor Rama Khalkho by a Ranchi court on Tuesday morning, the State Election Commission stayed the counting of votes for the Mayor’s seat till further orders.
A Public Interest litigation (PIl) has also been filed at the Jharkhand High Court demanding countermanding and announcing a fresh election date for the mayoral polls in the City after `22.6 lakh seized from the City Palace Hotel on April 7.
In a notice issued by the State Election Commission, it has been directed that the counting of votes for mayoral polls will be kept on hold till further orders. The counting was scheduled to be held on April 11. The counting of votes of the Ward Councilors however, will be done as per the programme on Thursday. Till then the polled EVMs and other election equipments will be kept in safe vaults under tight security.
Police on the other hand, went on an extensive hunt for Ranchi Mayor Rama Khalkho in the money grab case at various locations in Ranchi and raided two of her houses located in the Hinoo area. Investigations are still on and those others who were involved in the case are also being identified by the police.
“Today, we raided the Hinoo and Doranda houses of Rama Khalkho to arrest her but could not find her there. The raids will be continued until we nab her,” said City SP Manoj Rantan Chauthe.
The police however, are yet to scan the CCTV footage of the hotel premises which was seized on Sunday during the raid which will provide some important leads regarding the involvement of other persons in the case.
“We had prayed for the warrant of arrest for Mayor Rama Khalkho before the court which has been granted,” said lalpur officer-in-charge Jitendra Kumar while coming out of the Court. “Whoever is involved in the case, will come in the net we will seek arrest warrant against him,” said the lalpur OC.
Meanwhile, bail petition of Sudheer Kumar Sahu, aide of the Congress leader Niranjan Sharma who was also arrested in the money grab case of Sunday, was rejected by the court of Judicial Commissioner Chandan Kumar.
Adding to the problems for Khlakho, a PIl has also been filed by anti-corruption activist Durga Oraon at the Jharkhand High Court demanding countermanding of the election for the Mayor’s election and ordering a fresh election date.
“We have filed a PIl with three demands firstly, to countermand the Mayor’s election and order a fresh election for it. Secondly, to order a CBI inquiry and lastly, all the named persons who are seen in the video footage must be arrested immediately,” said petitioner’s advocate Rajeev Kumar. “Moreover, we have also demanded the monitoring of all the investigations by the Jharkhand High Court,” added Kumar.
The Election Commission is said to be also looking into the possibility of countermanding Mayor’s election which may be decided in a couple of days after the commission considering all the evidences provided to it by the police and the IT department. The video footage and the photographs flashed in some Newspapers and News Channels have already established that Rama Khalkho was present in the Hotel along with the senior Congress leaders who have extended support to her in the elections.