BJP's Giriraj Singh gives cops the slip

Seeks anticipatory bail in hate speech case

Armed with a court order, a joint team of Bihar and Jharkhand police raided the house of Bihar BJP leader Giriraj Singh on Thursday to arrest him for his alleged hate statements. But they could not find him.

“A team of Bokaro police and Patna police raided Giriraj Singh’s house around 5 am in the morning to arrest him on the direction of a Bokaro court, which had issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against him but Singh was not found in the house,” City Superintendent of Police Jaykant said.

Jharkhand police is in town and is waiting to apprehend Singh with the assistance of the Patna team, he said.

The Jharkhand police team said they would try to arrest him before he surrenders
in court and if Singh continued to elude they would pray to the court for attaching his property.

Singh had on Wednesday said he will surrender before the court on Thursday but did not say whether he would do so in Jharkhand or Bihar.

Efforts to contact Singh failed. His cell phone was found switched off and his landline was not operational. When a group of mediapersons reached Singh’s home and asked his kin about his whereabouts, they said he was in the city but refused to divulge the location.

Three FIRs – two at Deogarh and Bokaro in Jharkhand and one in Patna – were lodged against him at the behest of the Election Commission, which has barred him from campaigning in the two states in the wake of his April 18 controversial remarks.

He had said those opposing BJP PM nominee Narendra Modi should go to Pakistan, and that the Centre was giving subsidy for export of beef while taxing those who reared cows.

The third FIR was lodged at the Airport police station here three days ago for repeating the same remarks publicly on April 20.

Singh is contesting from Nawada Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket.

Plea in court

BJP leader Giriraj Singh on Thursday applied for anticipatory bail in the district court hours after a joint team of Bihar and Jharkhand police raided his house to arrest him.

He filed the anticipatory bail plea in the court of district judge Virendra Kumar who listed the matter for hearing on Friday.

Singh has sought anticipatory bail in connection with an FIR lodged against him at the Airport police station here on April 21 under provisions of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1950 and Indian Penal Code (IPC).