Patna, Oct. 31: A person declared an absconder in a criminal case for about 14 years has contested three consecutive Assembly polls in the state. He, in fact, is BJP’s official nominee from Gaya (urban) constituency this polls as well.

Prem Kumar was declared an absconder by a Gaya court in 1996 in a case (No.301/91) lodged with Kotwali police station in Gaya district.

That, however, did not stop him from contesting Assembly polls and in 2005, he was appointed a minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet.

Kumar, who is current the road construction minister, was charged with pelting stones on the police during a procession in Gaya town way back in January 1991.

The procession, led by Kumar, was taken out to protest the police inaction in abduction of Sanjay Gupta that resulted in the victim’s murder.

The then Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gaya, had issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Kumar and others in the case in 1994 on the basis of the chargesheet submitted by the investigating officer in the court.

The police attached even the property of the accused in the case.

“How can a person, who was declared an absconder by a court for almost one and a-half decade, be allowed to contest election and why his name was not deleted from the voters’ list?” asked Priyadarshi, media in-charge of Congress candidate Mohan Srivastava.

He said that it was a matter of investigation as to why the police did not arrest Kumar when he had gone to file nomination papers in the office of returning officer cum sub-divisional magistrate Paritosh Kumar.

When contacted, Gaya district electoral officer-cum-district magistrate Sanjay Singh said he would look into the matter. “The matter has come to our notice and it is being investigated,” he said.

Additional chief electoral officer of Bihar Kumar Anshumali said it would not be justified to comment on the issue without verifying the matter. “Normally, the name of a person declared an absconder for six months is deleted after serving notice at his permanent address. When there is no response, it is understood that the person is not staying and the process of deleting his name from the voters’ list is started,” he said.

On the other hand, the BJP leader’s media (election) in-charge R.S. Nagmani said that the Patna High Court on Thursday stayed the proceedings in the case. “There is no question of Kumar going into hiding,” he added.