Congress MLA, Devendra Yadav, Image Courtesy: Bhaskar
A district court of Chhattisgarh has extended the judicial custody of Congress MLA from Bhilai Nagar constituency, Devendra Yadav by seven days. Yadav was earlier arrested by the police in connection with the Balodabazar violence case on Saturday, August 17.
The Congress MLA was produced before the Balodabazar court following completion of his initial remand of three days via video conferencing and was subsequently sent in judicial remand till August 27. During the hearing the arrested Congress leader requested for a newspaper and meeting with his lawyer on daily basis to which the court agreed and allowed.
This comes amidst the MLA’s of the Congress party hold a meeting over the arrest of Yadav in Chhattisgarh’s capital Raipur on Tuesday, August 20 and discussed about the future course of action including the upcoming state wide protest called by the party on August 24.
Notably, earlier the party leaders had announced a state wide agitation against the arrest of Yadav on August 21, however the same was extended by three days in view of the Bandh called against the order of the supreme court on the inclusion of creamy layer and sub quota within the reservation benefits provided to Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) category.
Yadav’s arrest in the case
A two time MLA from the Bhilai Nagar state assembly constituency, Devendra Yadav was taken in custody by the Balodabazar police after a marathon exercise in connection with the Balodabazar violence case which turned heads after a protest called by the Satnami community in Balodabazar town escalated dramatically culminating in arson and vandalism on large scale on June 10th afternoon.
Following his arrest from Bhilai on August 17, the congress leader was taken to Balodabazar police station and was subsequently produced before a CJM court from where he was sent in judicial custody for 3 days. He has been currently lodged in Raipur central jail.
Significantly, Yadav has also been named by the agencies investigating the alleged coal levy scam of Chhattisgarh where illegal proceed of crime worth crores was generated by a cartel composed of politician, bureaucrats and individuals with significant political backing as claimed by the ED.
Yadav’s arrest in Balodabazar case has irked the leaders of the Congress party who have been accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for doing vendetta politics. Though the allegations labelled by the Congress leaders has been categorically denied by the leaders of the BJP who have maintained that the investigative agencies are proceeding fairly in the case.
Notably, an agitated mob of protestors set ablaze several government offices and hundreds of vehicles stationed at joint collector’s office premises of Balodabazar town after their protest over vandalism of the ‘Jaitkham’ (a sacred symbol associated with the Satnami community near Amar Gufa in Mahkoni village of Giroudpuri) became uncontrollable on June 10.
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