After a night-long, high voltage drama in the premises of Hazaribagh police station, senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha and 54 other BJP cadres were remanded in judicial custody by a local court on Tuesday after they refused to seek bail in a case of alleged assault on a Jharkhand State Electricity Board official.
Sinha and others were finally arrested after JSEB's Hazaribagh branch General Manager Dhanesh Jha filed an FIR today morning, accusing them of tying him up during a demonstration on electricity crisis by the BJP's district unit here.
later, the police produced them in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate RB Pal. After they refused to fill up the bail bond the court sent them in 14 days judicial custody to JP Central Jail.
Outside the court room, Sinha said that the agitation against the electricity department will go on and the BJP workers will continue the indefinite dharna programme. Annoyed with the working pattern of the electricity department, the former Hazaribagh MP said that the officers and staffs of the department are actually the culprits who instead of giving service, are behaving like merciless rulers.
last evening, Sinha and other BJP workers were arrested by the Hazaribagh Sadar Police team from the GM's office when they had tied up the GM with ropes in the verandah of the office.
In Sadar PS, Sinha refused to fill the bond paper and then whole night he along with other workers remained in the thana campus. He tried to know about the charges framed against him several times but the DSP and other officers were not in a position to say anything.
Actually the police was waiting for the complaint of the GM who instead of going to the police station submitted it to the SP. Before lodging the complaint, the GM and other officers of the electricity board had threatened to go on strike if appropriate steps are not taken within 48 hours.
In the night, irked by continuous power cut, some BJP workers jammed NH-33 at District Board 'More'. The district administration which was taking the matter lightly initially then came into action and at about 11:30 in the night power was restored in the town and thereafter the BJP workers cleared the road.
Talking about yesterday's incident some BJP workers said that actually the rural party workers tied up the GM in anger because the board had increased the tariff and in some areas burnt transformers have not been replaced since long. The workers alleged that the board was openly taking bribe for repairing/replacing transformer and other works.