UP minister 'disappears' from courtroom after conviction, probe on

A 'preliminary enquiry' has been launched into the 'disappearance' of Uttar Pradesh minister Rakesh Sachan from a courtroom in Kanpur 'without furnishing bail bonds' after being convicted in an Arms Act case, a senior police official said Sunday.

Police Commissioner B P Jogdand said Assistant Commissioner of Police (Kotwali) Ashok Kumar Singh has been asked to inquire into the charges levelled against the minister in a police complaint before a first information report (FIR) is lodged.

Sources said the minister is likely to appear before the court on Monday to seek bail.

The court on Saturday held Sachan guilty in a three-decade-old Arms Acts case, after which he 'disappeared' from the courtroom 'without furnishing bail bonds'.

The minister, however, has denied the disappearance charge, claiming his case 'wasn't listed for the final verdict'.

Speaking to PTI, Sachan said he will deal with the issue accordingly.

He, however, expressed ignorance over whether or not he was held guilty in the Arms Acts case by the additional chief metropolitan magistrate-3 court on Saturday.

The minister, however, said he will honour the court's verdict whatever it may be.

Sachan hit out at Akhilesh Yadav for targeting him over the issue, saying as long as he was with the Samajwadi Party he was 'a good man'.

But now, after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party he was being termed a 'pebble thieve' and an 'absconding minister', he said.

The UP minister alleged that when Yadav was in power he had ordered withdrawal of all of Sachan's cases but now the Samajwadi Party chief was targeting him for the very same cases.

He advised the Samajwadi Party chief to verify the facts before making any statement.

On Saturday night, the reader of the court submitted a complaint to the Kotwali Police Station against Sachan, said a senior police official.

The complaint stated that the court's Arms Act case file related to minister Sachan was in his advocate's possession when he took some papers, including the order sheet and the conviction order, and suddenly 'disappeared' from the court, the official added.

Prosecution officer Richa Gupta said Sachan left the courtroom soon after his conviction when the court asked the defence counsel to make arguments over the quantum of punishment.

Sachan went away 'without furnishing bail bonds' and an FIR will be lodged against him in this regard, Gupta had said.

Sachan 'fled' with the court's conviction order, which was given to him for putting his signature, said a senior official on condition of anonymity.

The decision to register an FIR against the minister was taken after a marathon meeting with senior judicial officials believing that letting him off without action might land the presiding officer in trouble, the official added.

Interacting with mediapersons in Kanpur Dehat district later on Saturday, Sachan denied the charge of leaving the courtroom clandestinely.

Admitting that he had gone to the court for some work, the minister claimed that his case 'wasn't listed for the final verdict'.

Giving information about the case, Gupta said in 1991, police had recovered an illegal firearm from Rakesh Sachan.

Sachan had joined the BJP after leaving the Congress just before the assembly polls earlier this year.

He had entered politics in the early 90s, joining the Samajwadi Party.

In 1993 and 2002, he was elected an MLA from the Ghatampur assembly seat before winning parliamentary elections in 2009 from the Fatehpur Lok Sabha seat.