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Anand Mohan Sahay in Patna
Patna police have arrested ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal MLA Dinesh Chowdhary on charges of electoral fraud.
Chowdhary was arrested for contesting the 2000 Assembly election from a reserved constituency allegedly on the basis of a fake scheduled caste certificate.
The arrest occurred at the end of the monsoon session of the state assembly, Friday. The MLA was booked under Sections 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC and under the provisions of the SC/ST Act, and sent to Patna's Beur jail.
Police sources said that Chowdhary, who belongs to the Kurmi caste (OBC category) used fake certificates to contest the reserved constituency.
His first win, as an Independent, was in 1990. He won again in 1995, this time as a Bihar People's Party candidate. In the 2000 elections, he contested on behalf of the ruling RJD, and won for the third time.
In 2000, he defeated sitting NDA nominee Punit Rai, a relative of former Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan.
The arrest follows an FIR lodged after the 2000 Assembly polls by the then SDO-cum-assistant returning officer Patna City, which charged him with contesting the poll on the basis of a fake certificate.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Vijendra Kumar investigated the case under the supervision of Superintendent of Police (Patna) O N Bhaskar.
Chowdhary attributed his arrest to a political conspiracy and said that RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav was not involved in the events in any way whatsoever.
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