Patna: Senior BJP leader and former Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha was on Tuesday sent to judicial custody for 14 days along with 54 BJP workers in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district for refusing to seek bail in a case of allegedly assaulting an electricity department official while protesting against long power outages.
Mr Sinha, formerly the MP from Hazaribagh, had admitted to the media on Monday that he had asked the BJP’s women workers to attack Jharkhand State Electricity Board (JSEB) general manager Dhanesh Jha during a protest demonstration.
The BJP leader and dozens of BJP workers were detained by police following the protest and a case was lodged against him and some others after an FIR was filed by Mr Jha, who alleged that his hands were tied up with a rope by the BJP’s women workers and he was humiliated. Mr Jha was later freed by the police.
After Mr Sinha and the 54 arrested BJP workers refused to seek bail in the case, judicial magistrate R.B. Pal sent them to judicial custody for 14 days.
The senior BJP leaders’ agitations against 10-hour-long power outages in Hazaribagh and Ramgarh districts is seen as his plans to take centre-stage in the state BJP before Jharkhand’s Assembly polls scheduled next year.
