Patna, Jun 5 (IANS): Bihar will remember the second wave of Covid-19 for its deficient infrastructure, as well as a lesson on how those seeking to expose "wrongdoings" of the state government and the influential may end up paying a price, said Jan Adhikar Party leaders, citing the case of their chief Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav.

The four-time MP sought to expose the inefficiency and irregularities in the hospitals, from the remote areas to the multi-specialty facilities in the state capital and ended up in jail in a three-decade-old kidnapping case, said his party leaders.

On May 7, when the highest rate of Covid cases appeared in Bihar and ambulance operators were found breaching regulatory protocols, Yadav had unearthed 39 ambulances lying parked on a plot in Amnaur block in Saran district.

The ambulances were purchased under the MPLAD fund in 2019 and kept in a plot belonging to a relative of BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy, whose name was on every vehicle.

"As he had exposed an influential MP of BJP at a time when there were several question marks on PM Narendra Modi and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's handling of the pandemic situation, my leader was arrested in a 32-year-old so-called kidnapping case where the victims denied it," JAP national General Secretary Prem Chand Singh said.

Even as Yadav is in jail in the 1989 case, one of the "kidnapped persons" named Rajkumar Yadav came before the media and said that it was a case of confusion.

He said that in 1989, he and Umakant Yadav were close associates of Pappu Yadav but a dispute arose between them after a girl's marriage of a girl. Rajkumar Yadav said that then his cousin, Shailendra Yadav, had in January 1989 lodged a complaint against Pappu Yadav for allegedly kidnapping Rajkumar and Umakant in Murliganj police station in Madhepura.

"I and Umakant were sitting in the vehicle of Pappu Yadav. After a few hours, we came out from the house of Pappu Yadav and reached Madhepura. We initially thought that we were kidnapped. It was nothing but a case of confusion."

According to JAP leader Singh: "The legal aspect of the entire so-called kidnapping is extremely shocking. In this case, Pappu Yadav was arrested in 1989. As per legal proceedings, police had to submit the chargesheet in 90 days after the FIR. Madhepura police were unable to file the chargesheet and he got bail.

"In 1993, the bail of Pappu Yadav was cancelled by the Madhepura district court but district police failed to take warrant from the court to arrest him."

Pappu Yadav was later arrested in murder case of CPI-M legislator Ajit Sarkar and served jail term from 1999 to 2013.

In between, Madhepura police submitted a report of property attachment of Pappu Yadav in 2009.

Singh asked: "I want to ask the Bihar Police to clarify why it had failed to execute the warrant issued against Pappu Yadav. He was acquitted from the court in Ajit Sarkar murder case in 2013. Why had Bihar Police not arrested him in the kidnapping case then?"

JAP state President Raghvendra Kushwaha told IANS: "Pappu Yadav was a political figure in Bihar. He won the 2014 parliamentary election from Madhepura and the Central government had allotted him Y-threat security. It means, whenever he visits any place in the country, he used to inform the police of the district concerned and the police administration of respective districts have to provide additional security to him apart from his Y-threat security which comprises six CRPF personnel at one time."

"He has visited Madhepura and other districts of Bihar. He was openly involved in campaigning in the 2020 Assembly election. Why did the state police not arrest him in that kidnapping case," he asked.

Pappu Yadav's lawyer Vishal Thakur said: "There were 11 persons booked in that 32 years old so-called kidnapping case and 4 of them were acquitted. Pappu Yadav was among those 7 persons whome Bihar Police declared fugitives. Now, you have to decide how he could become a fugitive?"

"When he was lodged in Tihar Jail, did the Bihar Police not know the address? He was MP from 2014 to 2019 and had official residences in Madhepura, Patna and Delhi, why had the Bihar Police declare him a fugitive. He visited Madhepura several times during the recently concluded Bihar Assembly election and Murliganj police station wherein the kidnapping case was registered... why he was not arrested.

"Now, Pappu Yadav was arrested in that case. It is clear that he has become a victim of political vendetta and revenge for exposing wrong doings of ruling party's MP," Thakur said.