This Maoist-turned-politician of Bihar has more cases against him than party chief Pappu Yadav

Jan Adhikar Party-Loktantrik (JAP) candidate from Gurua assembly constituency in Gaya district has beaten down his party boss Ranjan Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav in terms of number of cases lodged against him, most of which are for heinous crimes.

According to an affidavit filed by Pappu Yadav, during his nomination filed in 2019 Lok Sabha elections when he unsuccessfully contested from Madhepura, 31 cases are pending against him, out of which charges have been framed in 10 cases. However, Maoist-turned politician Sudhir Kumar Verma alias Vinod Marandi, who once carried Rs 25,000 prize on his head, has 37 cases against lodged him, which include heinous crimes under 3/4 Explosive Substance Act, Section 302 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) for murder, 307 of IPC (attempt to murder), besides others.

Marandi, out of jail on bail, filed his nomination papers for Gurua seat on Thursday.

BJP’s sitting MLA Rajiv Nandan is one of the contestants from the constituency, while the RJD has fielded Vinay Kumar. In 2015 assembly polls, Nandan had defeated Ramchandra Prasad Singh of JD(U) by a margin of 6,515 votes.

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The JAP has forged an alliance for Bihar elections by tying up with three parties—Azad Samaj Party of Chandrashekhar Azad, the Social Democratic Party of MK Faizi and Bahujan Mukti Party led by BPL Matang.

A police official said Marandi had joined the Maoist outfit Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) in 1999 as area commander, however, when he could not establish his supremacy in the organisation, he floated Revolutionary Communist Centre (RCC) in August 2004.

The RCC was involved in extortion and other unlawful activities and spread its wing in entire Magadh division and bordering areas of Jharkhand.

In 2009, he was arrested, however, the court acquitted him in the absence of any concrete evidence. The police had later arrested him in 2016 from Vishnupad area of Gaya after tracking his mobile phone for quite some time.

Marandi, who earlier used to frequently change his phone numbers and used to call people from his hideouts, said now he has said farewell to arms and joined the mainstream politics. “Besides politics, I do broking of land,” he said.

“I fear that I may get killed as I had disassociated myself from the MCC and the RCC about two years back. Therefore, I have sought security from the district administration,” he said.

Marandi’s wife, Sunita Devi is mukhiya of Diha panchayat under Gurua police station in Gaya district. Marandi, a Dangi by caste, feels he might get the majority of votes of his caste besides Muslims would also vote for him.