Following Supreme Court directive former Jharkhand Minister and Congress leader Yogendra Sao on Monday surrendered before the Additional District Judge SS Prasad’s court in a case of mob instigation. The Apex Court had rejected Sao’s bail plea and had asked him to surrender before Ranchi court by April 15.
The bench of justices SA Bobde and S Abdul Nazeer had said, “The petitioner (Sao) is directed to surrender before the additional judicial commissioner, Ranchi, by April 15, 2019. The immediate applications for alteration and the miscellaneous applications stand disposed of accordingly”.
Before surrendering, Sao told reporters, “It’s a conspiracy against me. I was visiting Ranchi for court related works. I will file a plea to the High Court. I have full faith in the judiciary and I will sure get justice.”
The Apex Court order came on a plea of Sao seeking explanation and modification of the order on the place of his surrender. The Apex Court had on April 4, refused Sao’s plea demanding for campaigning in the Lok Shabha election for the Congress and cancelled his bail, saying he has violated the bail conditions.
Sao became a Minister in the Hemant Soren led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in the State in 2013. He is an accused in over a dozen cases of rioting and instigation of violence.
The BJP led State Government had moved the Apex Court seeking cancellation of the bail to Sao and his Barkagaon MLA wife Nirmala Devi. It had claimed that they both violated bail conditions imposed by the court.
Both Sao and Devi were granted bail on December 15, 2017, by SC and directed to reside in Bhopal according to the bail condition.
They were allowed to visit the State only for court related works under police custody after intimating the Superintendent of Police, Bhopal.
The SC had rejected their plea and said “You both have breached the faith we reposed upon you. We are saddened by your conduct. You don’t deserve any indulgence”.
However, the bench had refused to cancel the bail of Devi and said that her deviations in bail conditions are not considerable with view that she was a MLA.
The SC had transferred the trial of 18 cases against Sao and Devi from Hazaribagh to Ranchi court in Jharkhand.
Both Devi and Sao were accused in a case relating to violent clashes between villagers and police in 2016 in which four persons were killed.
Devi, a Congress MLA, had led an agitation against National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) authorities for their alleged attempt to forcibly evacuate villagers from Barkagaon without giving them due compensation or rehabilitation, according to police.
