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Ex-MLA Rajan Tiwary, wanted by UP police, arrested from Raxaul
Police said Tiwary was on his way to Nepal’s capital Kathmandu to pay his obeisance at Pashupatinath temple.
A former MLA in Bihar, who was wanted by the Uttar Pradesh police in a 25-year-old case, was arrested Thursday at Raxual in Bihar’s East Champaran district while he was crossing over to Nepal, police said.
Rajan Tiwary, the former MLA from Govindganj constituency in West Champaran district, was carrying a reward of ₹25,000 on his head announced by UP Police.
East Champaran superintendent of police (SP) Dr Kumar Ashish said, “The former MLA was arrested from Raxaul around 11am and handed over to Gorakhpur police.”
A non-bailable warrant was pending against him in Gorakhpur, the SP said.
Police said Tiwary was on his way to Nepal’s capital Kathmandu to pay his obeisance at Pashupatinath temple.
As per details shared by police, Tiwary hails from a village in Gorakhpur, but had settled in West Champaran’s Bagaha. He was a close associate of Sri Prakash Shukla, a dreaded gangster of UP who was killed in a police encounter on September 22, 1998.
On May 15, 1998, Gorakhpur police had booked Tiwary, along with others, under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986, commonly known as the Gangsters Act.
Later, a court there issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Tiwary on December 14, 2005. To date, Tiwary failed to appear before the court.
Recently, Gorakhpur police chief Dr Gaurav Grover had constituted a special team to arrest Tiwary.
In 2000, Tiwari fought Bihar assembly elections from Govindganj as Independent and won.
His name had figured in the killing of former state minister Brij Bihari Prasad on the premises of Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) in Patna on June 3, 1998. Though the district and sessions court in Patna convicted some of the accused, including former LJP MP Surajbhan Singh, former MLA Vijay Kumar alias Munna Shukla and Tiwary, in the murder case, the Patna High Court acquitted them for lack of evidence in July 2014.
According to police, Tiwary has spent a total of 15 years and four months in jails in Bihar and UP.
