Raja Bhaiya gets judicial custody till March 13

The legislator from Kunda, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, who was produced before a special anti-terrorist court in Kanpur on Thursday, was remanded to judicial custody till March 13.

Raja Bhaiya was arrested in November following a complaint of intimidation filed by a fellow MLA, who had earlier stood by him in his bid to dislodge the Mayawati led-Bahujan Samaj Party-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition in Uttar Pradesh.

The Mayawati administration slapped the Prevention of Terrorist Activities on him as well as his father Udai Pratap Singh and protégé Akshay Pratap Singh.

They were accused of hatching a conspiracy to bump off the chief minister.

Government prosecutor Mridul Rakesh said Raja Bhaiya was charged under POTA for possessing an AK-56 rifle and other arms, which were dug out from his palace in Kunda.

Rakesh said, "Anyone found in possession of certain prohibited arms and ammunition is liable to be booked under POTA."

Raja Bhaiya's counsel Arjun Singh Chauhan said the charges were 'trumped up at the behest of the chief minister, essentially for settling political scored'.

The special POTA court headed by district Judge Shailendra Saxena, while agreeing to the prosecutor's request, remanded Raja Bhaiya to judicial custody for a month.

Earlier, chaos prevailed in and around the court after Raja Bhaiya was brought. The administration sealed the court gates and even other litigants were denied entry. Journalists had a tough time with the large contingent of security personnel, including a company of the Rapid Action Force. While TV cameras were disallowed, journalists from the print media were pushed out of the court premises.