Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday granted bail to former Agriculture Minister Yogendra Sao, accused of forming a rebel group ‘Jharkhand Tiger’ for the purpose of collecting extortion and also providing arms to the members of the group. Sao will have to furnish two bail bonds of Rs10,000 each in order to get release from the jail.
“Sao was granted bail from the court of Justice DN Upadhyaya on the grounds that the police could not provide a single evidence against him before the court,” said senior advocate BM Tripathy.
According to Tripathy, the police have made no recovery in the case during the investigations. “Moreover, there was no such group named ‘Jharkhand Tigers’ in the police records under the list of banned rebel outfit,” added Tripathy.
“When the court asked whether any extortion case has been registered against the group in the past anywhere in the State, the police had no answer,” said the advocate. The court, thereafter, allowed the bail petition filed by us, he said.
Sao has been lodged at Hazaribagh Jail since October 4, last year followed by his arresting in Delhi from the residence of Pannalal who, according to the police records, has been running a human trafficking racket in the name of placement agencies in Delhi and Jharkhand.
Initially, the CID had been asked to investigate the case jointly along with the district police. Chief Minister Hemant Soren, however, handed over the case to the CID after being requested by Sao's family, accusing Hazaribagh police of framing the former minister in connivance with his opponents to malign his image.