Bihar cops move court to seek arrest warrant against Lalu’s kin in assault case

PATNA: The Patna police on Saturday moved a local court seeking arrest warrant against Tanuj Yadav and Nayan Yadav, nephews of deputy chief minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, in connection with the murderous attack on a government official earlier this week.

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Patna City superintendent of police (SP) (west), Rajesh Kumar, said arrest warrants from a court were required for carrying out searches/raids in places outside Bihar to apprehend the duo, who have been absconding since the incident on Tuesday night.

The victim, Arvind Kumar Singh, an executive officer (EO) with Dobhi Nagar Panchayat in Gaya district, is currently battling for life at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi with serious head injuries.

According to police, he was brutally beaten up by a group of 22 people led by Tanuj and Nayan, sons of RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s nephew Nagendra Yadav.

Nagendra’s father, late Mahavir Rai, was the elder brother of Lalu Prasad.

The official is attached to the urban development and housing department, which is headed by Tejashwi Yadav. A delegation of the EOs met the deputy CM on Friday evening and submitted a memorandum, seeking early arrest of the absconding accused.

The victim’s cousin, Vijay Kumar Singh, had filed a first information report (FIR) with Rupaspur police station in Patna against the brother duo and said they forcibly stopped the EO’s vehicle, dragged him out and assaulted him mercilessly in public view for about 20 minutes before he fell unconscious.

SP Rajesh Kumar said police were in touch with the victim’s family members. “Once the EO can talk, a police team would be dispatched to New Delhi to record his statement. Police have already recorded the statements of his family members. We are conducting raids. If the accused remain out of our reach or do not surrender, we will attach their properties after getting permission from the court,” the officer said.

A police officer, requesting not to be named, said Nagendra’s sons and their associates are notorious for creating public nuisance, firing in the air and beating people in Gola Road area in Patna.

A local trader, Raj Kumar, said the brothers often thrashed people and used filthy languages even in police presence.

According to a police officer who requested anonymity, Nagendra Yadav too has a criminal history. In December 2005, the then Patna police chief Kundan Krishnan recommended to the then district magistrate B Rajendra to book Nagendra in a case of assault and opening fire at different places within the Shastrinagar police station limits in 2004 under the stringent CCA (Crime Control Act) to keep him in judicial custody for a year or extern him from Patna district limits.