Gaya: Gaya's BJP MP Hari Manjhi's son Rahul Manjhi was arrested and sent on jail remand on Sunday for consuming alcohol in violation of the dry law.

Rahul was charged under Section 37 of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016. He was arrested from Nama village in Bodhgaya police station area. His friend Munarik Chaudhary, too, was arrested. The two underwent breathalyser tests that confirmed alcohol, Gaya SSP Garima Malik said.

Earlier on December 14, 2016, Rahul had been arrested from the Magadh Medical College police station area on the same charge. He was charge-sheeted and was out on bail.

Section 37 of the prohibition Act carries a punishment of seven years' rigorous imprisonment.

The MP could not be contacted; his cellphone was "switched off". BJP spokesperson Yugesh Kumar distanced the party from Rahul, saying "an offender is an offender, whoever he be".

"Controversy and the two-term BJP MP go together," Congress leader Mohammad Moosa said. "He has been courting controversy since his 2009 election. Soon after being elected, the "non matric" (as declared in his election affidavit) MP was caught on camera administering an injection." He practiced quackery, Moosa said. Former chief of Indian Medical Association's Gaya wing D.K. Sahay said the MP's "injection photo" was used in its campaign against quackery.

Then Hari's driver's name cropped up as a suspect in a robbery at Central Bank of India's AM College branch. Hari also hit headlines for liking a Facebook post by Lalu Prasad where he wrote to the Prime Minister: "Your ministers keep dogs and not cows." A few months back, a video of Hari supposedly meeting Lalu had gone viral.