Ram Sevak Singh

Gopalganj, June 2: JD(U) MLA from Hathuwa Assembly seat Ram Sevak Singh was granted bail today by Gopalganj district and sessions judge V.P. Singh. Ram Sevak was taken into custody for torturing two youths after taking them hostage in his house.

Ram Sevak, along with his brother Ramshray Singh, his three bodyguards and his driver allegedly took the two youths hostage and tortured them on the night of May 23.

The MLA was arrested along with his bodyguards on May 24 and was remanded in judicial custody, while Ramshray was absconding.

On May 25, the Gopalganj chief judicial magistrate had denied bail to the MLA.

Saroj Devi, the wife of younger brother of Ram Sevak, was in the fray for the mukhiya’s post. However, Sushila Devi trounced her, which enraged the MLA and his family.

On May 23, when the results were announced, the MLA and his family turned furious. All the people passing through the area near the Ram Sevak’s residence in Balesra village were taken to task. First, two youths were beaten up after which two youths — Rajesh Mishra and Vishal Singh — were taken as hostage.

They were first asked whom they voted for. Rajesh was the relative of the winning candidate and therefore, the Hathuwa MLA inferred that he must have voted against his sister-in-law. Then, they were taken hostage. They were beaten black and blue and if that was not enough, petrol was poured in their private parts following which they lost consciousness.

As the news of the incident spread, the villagers apprised Gopalganj superintendent of police (SP) K.S. Anupam, who swung into action and reached Balesra village the same night.

Anupam immediately suspended the bodyguards — Jai Ram Mahto, Bhola Singh, Pawan Kumar and driver Vijay Kumar — and arrested all of them.

Ram Sevak was arrested from his house and sent to judicial custody the next day.

Taking serious note of the incident, chief minister Nitish Kumar had said no erring public representative would be spared and the law will take its own course.

The MLA’s brother, Ramashray, is still absconding.

The incident had unnerved the ruling NDA government in the state and the Opposition had launched a scathing attack on the claim of good governance. Earlier, during the RJD regime, one of its MLAs from Gaya Lalit Yadav had uprooted the nails of a person when he protested his actions.

Former Gopalganj district magistrate Pankaj Kumar Pal also criticised the incident and said the MLA and the bodyguards “had committed a heinous crime”.

Sushila’s family has been claiming the mukhiya’s post in Balesra panchayat under Uchkagaon police station since 1952. Only in 2001, Ram Sevak himself had defeated a member of their family to become a mukhiya. In the 2005 elections, Ram Sevak became an MLA.

Not being able to accept this defeat, the MLA’s family started terrorising people. After beating up the two youths, they fabricated a story by putting a country-made pistol and some rifle cartridges beside the youths and claimed that they had attacked him. However, the SP refused to buy that argument.

The villagers protested after the incident and the MLA was made a hostage in his house. The administration finally arrested him on May 24.