Ex-minister Yogendra Sao booked under CCA
Former Congress minister is charged with running and promoting an extremist group--Jharkhand Tiger Group
In a major development, the state government on Friday imposed preventive detention of former minister Yogendra Sao under provisions of Jharkhand Crime Control Act (JCCA).
Sao, currently lodged in Jaiprakash Narayan Central Jail in Hazaribag, was charged with running and promoting an extremist group--Jharkhand Tiger Group.
Chief Minister Raghubar Das approved Hazaribag deputy commissioner’s recommendation for imposing the CCA against Sao, who is allegedly involved in several criminal cases of serious nature.
However, the government’s decision of Sao’s preventive detention would attain finality after the approval of the state advisory board comprising three members headed by a sitting high court judge.
The government has invoked CCA against Sao on the ground that Sao was running an extremist group and involved in several cases of kidnapping, extortion and murder and therefore his release would be a threat to the society at large. It was also alleged that Sao had been instigating villagers under Hazaribag district to agitate against a Nav Ratna company which created law and order problem.
In September last year, Sao and his legislator wife Nirmala Devi had allegedly provoked villagers to attack a police team when it reached Barkagaon block in Hazaribag district to arrest Nirmala Devi who was sitting on a dharna. The police team, however, had to open fire in which four villagers were killed. Later, the police booked the couple and arrested them.
