The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Deoghar has issued an arrest warrant against Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) legislator, Pradeep Yadav, in connection with a molestation case, police said on Sunday, adding that the Poreyahat legislator might get arrested any time.
A plea for Yadav’s arrest was submitted in the court of CJM Garima Mishra on Friday following which, the court issued an arrest warrant against him after a hearing on Saturday. Police had sought the Advocate General’s guidance in proceeding with the case last week.
“The court has issued arrest warrant against Yadav. Now, we will go ahead with the due procedure,” said Deoghar Superintendent of Police Narendra Kumar Singh.
Rinki Jha, 38, in a complaint lodged with Woman’s Police Station in Deoghar on April 21, had accused Yadav of molesting her in a hotel room and snatching `2 lakh cash from her. The incident, she said, had occurred at around 9.15 pm on April 20.
During investigation, Deoghar police found that the location of mobile phones used by Yadav and the complainant was same on the fateful day, Singh said. “Eyewitnesses have also given statements indicating that the complainant and Yadav were together at the hotel on that day. The check-in register and identity proofs submitted at the hotel’s reception also prove that the two were in the hotel on April 20,” said Singh.
Besides, police have recovered records of chats between the two parties over smart phone messaging application, WhatsApp. The chat records, Singh said, were suspicious and indicated possible malafide intentions. He, however, added that the chats were not sexually explicit or abusive in nature.
On June19, a District Court in Deoghar rejected Yadav’s petition for anticipatory bail. Yadav, who recorded his statement with the Cyber Police Station in Deoghar on June 13, had pleaded innocence. He claimed that the complaint was politically-motivated and accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders of influencing the complainant to tarnish Yadav’s image.
Jha, in her statement under Section 164 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), said that she had visited Deoghar to attend a rally on April 20. Yadav, she said, had asked her to meet him at Hotel Shivashakti. When she reached the hotel, Yadav allegedly called her to room no. 202 and tried to outrage her modesty. After failing to overpower her, Yadav took away ` 2 lakh cash which she was carrying in her purse, the complainant said in her statement.
Jha said that she had also tried to take up the matter with JVM-P chief Babulal Marandi, but her complaints were unheeded.
She has accused senior party leaders of trying to destroy evidences against Yadav. Interestingly, Jha leveled the allegations a week before the first phase of 17th General Elections in Jharkhand. Yadav contested the Godda parliamentary constituency as the Mahagathbandhan candidate in the elections. He lost to BJP’s Nishikant Dubey by a huge margin.