It has been over 24 hours since an arrest warrant was issued against Baghmara MLA Dhullu Mahto, but the police have not been able to trace him. Despite raids conducted at his different residences in Dhanbad and Ranchi, the legislator remained absconding, police said on Thursday.
Police said that raids will also be conducted outside Jharkhand to nab the legislator, who according to his wife had left his Dhanbad residence on Tuesday evening to get treated for some ailments. Meanwhile, police on Thursday sent four of his aides to jail. The four were arrested from Mahto’s Dhanbad residence on Wednesday during police raids.
The police have been looking for Mahto in connection with a land-grabbing case in which he was one of the five accused. Sources said that attempts to trace his geographical location through GPS have also been on. “We are taking all possible measures to catch him. Raids are being conducted in Jharkhand as well as in places he frequented outside Jharkhand,” said Dhanbad Senior Superintendent of Police Kishore Kaushal. “Police will issue arrest warrants against Mahto in connection with other cases and arrest him at the earliest,” he added.
As per figures with the police, Mahto is an accused in as many as 28 cases in Jharkhand. Most of the cases, police said, were related to extortion and violation of The Arms Act, 1959. A woman leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had also accused Mahto of molestation.
Sources said that Mahto’s supporters on Wednesday tried to stop policemen from performing their duty and also raised a ruckus over the raid. Several local women carrying brooms in their hands blocked the way of the cops and created hurdles in the process of the raid. Mahto is a two-time legislator, and he managed to retain his Baghmara seat despite an anti-incumbency wave in Jharkhand during the 2019 Assembly polls.
Dhanbad police on Sunday lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against Mahto in connection with an extortion case of June 2018. Earlier in November 2018, a member of the BJP’s women’s wing had accused Mahto of molestation. She even alleged that the MLA had tried to rape her. And when she had resisted and didn’t give in to his sexual advance, she had been threatened, she said. Following which the woman had gone to Katras Police station to lodge an FIR against Mahto. However, the police did not act on her complaint.
Later, she lodged an online FIR. However, no action was taken on the online complaint, following which she moved to Jharkhand High Court, which on August 28, 2019, ordered Jharkhand police to lodge an FIR against Mahto.