Ramadhar Singh. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, May 16: A Bihar minister is allegedly an absconder.

In case you didn’t know this, don’t fret. Neither did the chief minister.

Cooperative minister Ramadhar Singh, a BJP legislator, is a legal absconder, having been declared so by an Aurangabad court more than a decade ago.

Ramadhar was sitting with Nitish when the matter was raised at the chief minister’s weekly janata darbar today.

The court had declared him an absconder in a case pertaining to a provocative speech he purportedly made at Madanpur in Aurangabad in December 1992, days after the Babri Masjid demolition.

Nitish said he was ignorant about any such case existing against the minister. “I have no idea about this matter. I can’t say anything unless I check the facts myself. I can take action only after seeing the relevant documents,” he said.

The documents pertaining to the case were shown to Nitish but he refused to speak further on the matter.

The documents, which are in the possession of The Telegraph, show that the case was filed under sections 188 and 153(A) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The allegation is that on December 17, 1992, Ramadhar Singh and another BJP leader, Digvijay Singh, made a speech violating prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC. It is further alleged that they made the speeches to spark communal tension.

On December 18, 1992, an FIR was filed against both these leaders. They were arrested and sent to jail on January 15, 1993, and later released on bail.

They were found guilty in the case and the Aurangabad court first issued summons against them, and, on March 15, 1993, a chargesheet was filed. The case was sent to the court of the chief judicial magistrate. After repeated summons, a non-bailable warrant was issued against them on May 3, 1995. On December 18, 1995, they were declared absconders.

The minister said that to the best of his knowledge, he was not an absconder in any case.

“I have not made any communal speech. I am a true leader and contested elections and won. I accept that I went to jail in 1999 in one case and there were 14 cases against me but I have got bail in all of them. To the best of my knowledge, I am not absconding in any case,” he said.

“When a leader works for public interest, such cases are filed by many people. It does not mean that I am a culprit. I am not involved in theft, dacoity or rape cases, neither am I a murderer. The allegation is completely baseless. This must be a conspiracy of the Opposition party, they must have framed me. I can’t recall any such case against me. I have to speak to my advocates on this and till that time, nobody can call me an absconder,” Ramadhar said.

RJD principal general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Kripal Yadav hit out at the chief minister for defending Ramadhar.

“What kind of growth with justice is he talking about? He has in his cabinet a minister who has been declared an absconder. It is disappointing that such a person is attending cabinet meetings along with top officials. Nitish’s claims of growth with justice are a facade,” Yadav said.

“How can Nitish not be aware of his minister’s background when he is talking about declaring assets online and curbing corruption?” the RJD leader said.