Gaya road rage: Rocky Yadav sent to 14-day custody, JD-U MLC suspended

Police claimed Rocky Yadav have confessed to the crime. However, Rocky denied that he was involved in the murder.

A local court sent Rakesh Ranjan Yadav alias Rocky Yadav, the son of ruling Janata Dal-United Member of Legislative Council Manorama Devi who allegedly shot dead a 20-year-old youth for overtaking his vehicle, to judicial custody for 14 days. Manorma Devi has been suspended from her party.

In-charge chief judicial magistrate Sanjay Kymar Jha sent Rocky to judicial custody when he was produced by the police and was later taken to Gaya central jail.

As the Nitish Kumar government faced criticism over the crime and faced calls for action against the MLC for allegedly protecting her absconding son, the ruling JD-U suspended her from the party for six years.

"The party has suspended Manorama Devi for six years," state JD-U President Basistha Narayan Singh told PTI. He said the action was prompted after the alleged recovery of 18 bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor from her Gaya house during a police raid last night in the hunt for her son.

Rocky, who went missing since the incident on Saturday, was arrested from his father's mixer plant in Gaya district earlier in the day.

His father Bindi Yadav and Manorama Devi's bodyguard and police security personnel Rajesh Kumar, who were arrested on Sunday for allegedly helping Rocky to escape and was sent to 14 days judicial custody on Sunday, are also lodged in the same jail.

Mallik claimed that Rocky, who was produced before mediapersons during a press conference with a mask on his face, had admitted to his crime in a statement.

However, minutes later Rocky Yadav pleaded innocent and denied that he was involved.

“I was in Delhi. When my mother called me, I came and presented myself before the SSP... I did not open fire,” Rocky Yadav told reporters.

“I’ll tell everything in the court,” he said.

Rocky Yadav would be presented in a Gaya court later in the day.

To a query whether Rocky has surrendered or was arrested, the SSP said, “It is definitely an arrest.”

Aditya Sachdeva, son of a businessman, was shot dead allegedly by Rocky Yadav for overtaking his vehicle near police lines in Gaya district on Saturday night.

Rocky’s father, known in the area for his muscle and money power, and Manorama Devi’s bodyguard Rajesh Kumar were arrested on Sunday for allegedly helping the accused escape.

The SSP said that the license of the pistol had been issued in the name of Rocky Yadav from Delhi and the vehicle had also been registered in the name of Rocky Yadav.

The police had conducted searches at the residence of Manorama Devi in Gaya during which some bottles of liquor were found. A first information report would be lodged in this connection against Bindi Yadav and Rocky Yadav.

Asked about the political pressure on police, Mallik said, “There was no pressure on the police except moral and professional pressure of arresting the main accused at the earliest.”

The murder of Sachdeva had triggered protests and the state government faced criticism from the Opposition for the alleged law and order break down.

While Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had strongly condemned the incident and asserted that nobody could escape from the ‘long arms of law’, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party claimed that ‘jungle raj’ had returned to the state.

The victim’s mother demanded that a speedy trial be carried out in the case.

A bandh was observed in Gaya town on Monday in protest against the incident. Shops and business establishments in Gaya remained shut on the bandh call by the National Democratic Alliance and Chamber of Commerce, besides other socio-political outfits to protest against the murder of 20 year-old youth.

A Gaya court on Monday remanded both -- Bindi Yadav and Rajesh Kumar -- in 14-day judicial custody in connection with the incident.

Four friends of the slain youth travelling with him in a car on the fateful night three days ago, on Monday recorded their statements under Section 164 Code of Criminal Procedure before the first-class judicial magistrate Rakesh Ranjan Singh narrating sequence of events leading to the murder.

with inputs from M I Khan