The Ranchi Police has submitted a chargesheet against former Mayor Rama Khalkho in connection with the cash-for-vote case, where Rs 21.9 lakh was seized from a hotel room on April 7 ahead of the municipal elections.
Chargesheet against a local businessman, Niranjan Sharma, and his aide Sudheer Sahu has already been filed. “We have filed chargesheet against Rama Khalkho but investigation is still being conducted,” said officer in charge of lalpur Police Station Jitendra Kumar. The court had, on June 14, rejected Khalkho’s bail petition. She has been in judicial custody since she surrendered to court on June 4. She was in hiding for two months before this.
A warrant was issued against Khalkho on April 9 by a Ranchi court following an FIR. The FIR alleged that the money was kept for electoral malpractices, which led to the State Election Commission scrapping the mayoral elections. The former Mayor, after exploring all avenues to save herself from the threat of attachment of property to be issued against her June 4, surrendered before the special Vigilance Court of ARK Sinha.