Baghmara MLA Dhullu Mahto managed to escape from his residence in Dhanbad on Wednesday morning minutes before a police team raided his Chitahi-based bungalow to arrest the legislator. Mahto, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA, is accused of land grabbing and an arrest warrant was issued against him on Wednesday itself, police said.
“We could not arrest him (Mahto) today, but we have nabbed four of his aides. Three of them were accused in the land-grabbing case,” said Dhanbad Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Kishore Kaushal. The three accused in case are Ajay Gorai, Dimpi Mandal and Bittu Singh, he added.
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.
Mahto’s political career has been riddled with controversies so far. While the arrest warrant on Wednesday was issued against him in connection with a land-grabbing case, the legislator is also an accused in cases of molestation and extortion, police said. “We will issue arrest warrants in all cases, in which he is an accused and arrest him at the earliest,” said the SSP.
Mahto’s wife, Savitri Devi told local reporters that Mahto was keeping unwell and he left home on Tuesday night for medical assistance. She also accused the police of ill-treating the legislator and misbehaving with him during the course of investigation earlier.
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 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.