Patna, May 11 (IANS): Patna police on Tuesday arrested former MP and Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) president Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav for flouting lockdown rules.

A DSP rank officer along with large number of police force reached at his official residence Mandiri on Tuesday morning and arrested him. Initially, he was taken into house arrest but later he was taken to police station at Gandhi Maidan.

An official of Patna police confirmed his arrest.

"We have arrested him on the charge of violating lockdown in Patna. He has visited several hospitals during the lockdown which attributes to violation of rules under Epidemic Diseases Act," an officer of Gandhi Maidan police station said.

Besides this, Saran police also registered an FIR against Pappu Yadav for damaging the government properties on the day he raided at Amnaur office of Rajiv Pratap Rudy and accused him of 'hoarding' 39 ambulances inside his office campus. Yadav claims that the land belongs to Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

Sources, however, have said that the state government is acting in a vengeful manner against JAP chief for exposing Rudy who kept 39 ambulances in his office campus.

Pappu Yadav had said that these ambulances would have been used in a better way at the time of the pandemic.

"The people of Bihar are struggling for ambulances. They are forced to pay Rs 7,000 to Rs 25,000 for taking patients and dead bodies. Many patients and dead bodies have been transported in carts and bicycles in several districts of Bihar. On the other hand Rudy kept 39 ambulances in his office premises. The ambulances were purchased through MP fund in 2019," Yadav had said.

Reacting to it, Rajiv Pratap Rudy claimed that the ambulances were stationed in absence of drivers.