A special court on Tuesday forwarded Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) vice president Bandhu Tirkey to judicial custody in a disproportionate assets case (RC 5A/2010).

It may be noted here that CBI had arrested Tirkey from his residence in Pandra area in the morning. He was produced before the court of Additional Judicial Commissioner (AJC) Anil Kumar Mishra who sent him to jail. Meanwhile Tirkey has filed petition for bail in the court, the hearing on which is likely to take place on Wednesday. While being taken to the jail Tirkey said he has full faith in the judiciary.

Lawyer Sambhu Agrawal who appeared on behalf of Tirkey informed that the arrest was made following a non-bailable warrant issued by the court against the JVM (P) leader on November 20 , 2018.  The NBW was issued after Tirkey failed to appear before the court on a summon.

He said that CBI had earlier filed a closure report in the case due to lack of evidences adding that the court deferred a decision in the case.

He added that no further proceeding took place in the case as a stay was ordered. It may be mentioned here that Tirkey has also filed a quashing petition in the High Court in the case.

Agrawal stated that the summon was issued after Supreme Court had in its orders stated that a stay issued by courts may be vacated after lapse of six months. In the light of the judgment the court of AJC had issued the summon to Tirkey, he stated.

Notably, Tirkey had remained the Human resource Development Minister in the Madhu Koda led government. The JVM has issued a statement condemning the arrest saying that the government was misusing its powers to trap opposition party leaders. However, the BJP refuted the allegation saying that the laws of the land and judiciary work independently and one gets punishment for one’s own crimes.