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Former Bihar ministers remanded
to judical custody

Former Bihar ministers Lalit Yadav and Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav, who surrendered in Patna on Tuesday, have been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.

While Lalit surrendered before the special court of A P Ram on atrocities against Harijans, his former colleague Jai Prakash surrendered before the vigilance court of Jitendra Mohan Sharma.

The Supreme Court had rejected the anticipatory bail pleas of both. However, both had pleaded their innocence.

Lalit has been absconding since July 8 last year, when a television channel broke the news of the illegal confinement and torture of Dalit truck driver Dinanath Baitha and the cleaner.

Lalit succumbed to pressure from the National Human Rights Commission, which last month summoned the state chief secretary and director general of police to its headquarters in New Delhi on February 27.

Lalit's surrender was expected, as people close to him hinted last month that he would surrender after Basant Panchmi, on January 29.

He, along with two security guards and cousins, were charged with thrashing and detaining Baitha in a cowshed for about a month.

Baitha and the cleaner were accused of a truck robbery. The truck belonged to Lalit's cousin.

Baitha denied involvement in the theft of the truck that was later recovered

On July 8, a couple of TV cameramen entered the residence of the then minister and captured on camera the Dalit confined in the cowshed.

Lalit, who was then minister of state for co-operatives and labour, was sacked from the Rabri Devi ministry the next morning and was expelled from the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

However, he remained at large and once even spoke to a television reporter, denying involvement in the beating and confinement of the truck driver.

Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav, the other former minister who surrendered, was issued an arrest warrant on May 6 last year and ever since had been absconding.

He was an accused in the BEd degree examination scam. Two former vice-chancellors and a senior IAS officer, who were among the accused, had surrendered earlier.

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