Court orders FIR against RJD and Cong leaders for ‘ticket sale’

A Patna court has ordered registration of an FIR (first information report) against six people, including RJD leaders Tejashwi Yadav, Misa Bharti and state president of Congress Madan Mohan Jha, for allegedly taking ₹5 crore from a man who they promised a ticket from Bhagalpur for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the petitioner in the case said

A Patna court has ordered registration of an FIR (first information report) against six people, including RJD leaders Tejashwi Yadav, Misa Bharti and state president of Congress Madan Mohan Jha, for allegedly taking ₹5 crore from a man who they promised a ticket from Bhagalpur for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the petitioner in the case said.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav (HT File)

The order came from chief judicial magistrate (CJM) of Patna, Vijay Kishore Singh, on Saturday last on a complaint filed by Supreme Court lawyer and Congress leader Sanjeev Kumar Singh on August 10 this year.

In the petition, Sanjeev alleged he was promised party symbol from Bhagalpur parliamentary seat on January 15, 2019, by Tejashwi, Misa, Madan Mohan, Congress spokesperson Rajesh Rathore, former speaker Sadanand Singh and his son Subhanand Mukesh and he allegedly ₹5 crore to Tejashwi and Jha at RJD office in Patna a few days later.

“When I did not get the ticket and asked them to refund money, they assured me to provide symbol from Gopalpur (Bhagalpur) and my brother from Rupauli (Purnia) assembly constituencies, but we did not gave party symbols,” the petition says.

Sanjeev has also accused Misa, Sadanand, Subhanand and Rathore of threatening to kill him and said they finally refused to return money on February 10 this year.

Sanjeev told reporters on Monday that the CJM’s order has been sent to Patna’s senior superintendent of police (SSP) to lodge an FIR against the named accused.

Sunil Kumar Singh, station house officer of Kotwali police station, told HT on Monday that they were yet to receive court’s order.

RJD MLA Bhai Birendra dismissed all allegations against Tejaswi and Misa.

BJP Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi said this was nothing unusual for the RJD. “Giving tickets in lieu of money and making minister has been part of the RJD culture. Now Tejashwi is following Lalu Prasad,” he said.