Bihar elections: Maoist-turned-politician facing more cases than party chief Pappu Yadav
The former Maoist used to run an extortion racket in Bihar’s Magadh region and in the neighbouring areas of Jharkhand
This Jan Adhikar Party-Loktantrik (JAP) candidate from Gurua assembly constituency in Gaya district has more number of cases — most of which are heinous crimes— lodged against him than his party boss Ranjan Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav.
According to an affidavit filed by Pappu Yadav in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when he unsuccessfully contested from Madhepura, there were 31 cases pending against him, out of which, charges have been framed in 10 cases.
However, Maoist-turned politician Sudhir Kumar Verma alias Vinod Marandi, who once carried Rs 25,000 prize on his head, has 37 cases lodged against him, including for heinous crimes under 3/4 Explosive Substance Act, Section 302 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) for murder, 307 of IPC (attempt to murder) besides others.
Marandi, out of jail on bail, filed his nomination papers for the Gurua seat on Thursday.
BJP’s sitting MLA Rajiv Nandan is one of the contestants from the constituency, while the RJD has fielded Vinay Kumar.
In 2015 assembly polls, Nandan had defeated Ramchandra Prasad Singh of JD (U) by a margin of 6,515 votes.
For Bihar polls, JAP has forged an alliance with three parties—Azad Samaj Party of Chandrashekhar Azad, the Social Democratic Party of MK Faizi and Bahujan Mukti Party led by BPL Matang.
A police official said Marandi had joined the Maoist outfit, Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) in 1999 as an area commander, however, when he could not establish his supremacy in the organisation; he floated the Revolutionary Communist Centre (RCC) in August 2004.
RCC was involved in extortion and other unlawful activities and spread its wings in the entire Magadh division and bordering areas of Jharkhand.
In 2009 he was arrested, however, a court acquitted him in absence of any concrete evidence. Police had later arrested him in 2016 from Vishnupad area of Gaya after tracking his mobile phone for quite some time.
Marandi, who earlier used to frequently change his phone numbers and called people from his hideouts, said he bade farewell to arms and joined mainstream politics two years ago.
“Besides politics, I work as a land broker,” he said.
“I fear that I may get killed, as I had disassociated myself from MCC and RCC about two years back, so I have sought security from the district administration. I will be filing an application for the same on Saturday,” he said.
Marandi’s wife, Sunita Devi is the mukhiya of Diha panchayat under Gurua police station in Gaya district. Marandi, a Dangi by caste, feels that he might get majority of votes from his community besides Muslim votes.
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