Ranchi: Former minister Yogendra Sao, who fought for the rights of displaced people, is likely to see some relief for himself and his family after an investigation by the crime investigation department (CID) recently said he was implicated in at least two cases by former investigating officers and registered an FIR against them.
The two cases in which police have been caught on the wrong foot could be the tip of the iceberg as far as wrongdoing against the former Congress minister, his wife Nirmala Devi, also a former MLA, son Ankit Raj and sitting Barkagaon MLA and daughter Amba Prasad is concerned.
They together face nearly 50 cases, all lodged during the previous regime of the BJP-led government.
Facing nearly 30 cases himself, Sao continues to be in jail, while his wife Nirmala Devi, after a brief restriction on her entry into the state, is now allowed regular bail and at their home in Hazaribag.
Sao had repeatedly made demands for re-investigations into the cases and handing them over to the CID.
Finally, the Hemant Soren government agreed to hand over five cases to the CID and in two of them (90/15 and 91/15 at the Tandwa police station), the department has already found loopholes.
Meanwhile, Sao’s daughter and MLA Amba Prasad claimed that the CID has found similar flaws in the rest three cases as well and action would be recommended soon.
“We have been saying it for long that my father and mother were implicated by the BJP government because they were giving voice to the people of Barkagaon, who were being forced by the previous BJP government to give away their land to the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) at throwaway prices,” she claimed.
It may be put on record that a series of protests by the residents of Barkagaon and Keredari blocks resulted in raising the compensation rate payable to the owners of the land acquired by NTPC.
The negotiations began at Rs 3 lakh per acre and were finally settled at Rs 15 lakh to Rs 20 lakh per acre way back in 2015 through a tripartite agreement signed among the NTPC, the state government and the agitating villagers represented by Sao.
Soon after the agreement, a series of cases were lodged against Sao and Nirmala Devi.
The cases were allegedly used by the then ruling dispensation as arm twisting tactics against the family to support the BJP candidate in the 2016 Rajya Sabha election.
A complaint was filed by Sao against then ADG Anurag Gupta and Ajay Kumar, the political advisor to erstwhile chief minister Raghubar Das, for coercing his wife, then an MLA, to abstain from voting during the Rajya Sabha polls.
An audiotape purportedly related to the negotiations among Sao, Gupta and Kumar was also released by then JVM-P chief Babulal Marandi, acting on which the Election Commission had ordered the transfer of Gupta to Delhi and departmental proceedings against them.
In the audiotape, the family was assured of “relief” from cases, if Nirmala Devi supported the BJP candidate by abstaining from voting.
Earlier this month, the same case got an upstart in favour of Sao after Ranchi Police petitioned before the court to include the name of the former chief minister, Das, to press charges against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act related to the Rajya Sabha polling case.
Amba said the motive of implicating her parents is clear and after the CIDs investigation established foul play in two cases, the government must review all the cases and drop the charges.
“My parents have suffered a lot and the precious time of court is being wasted in hearing the false cases.
So, the cases must be reviewed and action be taken accordingly,” she said.
The MLA has also asked the government to take action against the policemen who killed four villagers in Barkagaon on October 1, 2016, by opening fire indiscriminately on the protesting crowd.
CID probe findings revive hope for jailed former minister Yogendra
