Police on Tuesday managed to establish contact with former Narpatganj MLA Dayanand Rai and asked him to appear for questioning, two days after a case was lodged against him for allegedly spreading rumours on earthquake.

“The former MLA has been asked to appear before the police to get his statement recorded in a case related to rumour mongering,” said the Secretariat police station house officer (SHO), Amrendra Kumar Jha, on Tuesday. Rai allegedly remained incommunicado after he was accused of spreading rumours through WhatsApp — a cellphone application — after the earthquake shook the state on Saturday.

Jha said the former legislator was away in Delhi and promised to appear before the police on his return from the national capital. “The police will quiz him as soon as he returns from Delhi,” the SHO said. Two-time MLA Rai said he was ready to face probe by any investigating agency. “I have not committed any offence. The message was circulated through WhatsApp. I forwarded the message, which I had received on my phone, to my acquaintances. I had no intention of spreading any rumour,” he said. 

The former MLA has not given any timeframe for facing the interrogation. Rai’s son, Rajesh, claimed that his father was undergoing treatment in a private hospital in New Delhi.

The former MLA reportedly went underground after he learnt an FIR was lodged against him with the Secretariat police station in Patna on Sunday. The complaint was lodged against the former legislator after the intervention of Patna district magistrate Abhay Kumar Singh, who had asked the police to deal sternly with rumourmongers.

Rumourmongers used WhatsApp and other networking sites to spread rumours for two consecutive days — Saturday and Sunday — predicting earthquakes of higher magnitude and the moon going upside down. 

The former MLA has been booked under Section 505 (spreading rumours) of the Indian Penal Code. “Rumour-mongering is a cognisable offence and the offender is liable to punishment up to three years or penalty or both, if proved guilty in the court of law,” Jha, the SHO of the Secretariat police station, said. 

Jha has sought permission from the deputy superintendent of police (Secretariat), Shibli Nomani, for questioning the former lawmaker. A source in the police headquarters said Rai had promised him to depose before the investigating officer at the earliest.

A senior police officer associated with the investigation said the police would issue a formal notice to Rai after he failed to appear before the investigating officer of the case. The case was lodged against Rai, a resident of Araria district, on the statement of the SHO concerned, the officer revealed.

Jha, in his complaint, earlier alleged that he saw people rushing towards a park on Saturday. When asked them the reason, they quoted a WhatsApp message, which predicted an earthquake of 13.5 magnitude on Saturday night. During investigation, it came to the fore that the message was circulated by Rai.