Troubles for don-turned-politician and Independent candidate for the upcoming Legislative Council poll, Ritlal Yadav, deepened following seizure of documents pertaining to railway contracts from his ward at Beur Central Jail in Patna on Sunday.
A team of district police and administrative officials carried out surprise inspection of the prisoner's ward on Sunday morning in the wake of Saturday's violent clash among jail inmates, which left undertrial prisoner Chandan Kumar dead and another injured. Six prisoners were accused of the deadly attack.
Sources said a knife, cellphone SIM card, battery, chargers besides documents related to railway contracts were found in the ward in which Ritlal, a don-turned-politician of Patna's Danapur-Khagaul area, is housed.
"The seizure of the documents shows that he (Ritlal) has been managing railway contacts from behind the bars," a senior police officer said. The officer, who was part of the Sunday's raiding team, revealed that Ritlal had been operating from the high-security prison.
Former deputy chief minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi had also alleged on Saturday that Ritlal was planning to create disturbance during the upcoming Legislative Council poll.
Beur jail superintendent Shivendra Priyadarshi said the seized documents were related to railway contracts.
A cellphone, a SIM card, iron rods (pipes) were also seized from the spot adjacent to Godavari section in which Ritlal and seven other prisoners are lodged. A complaint has been lodged with the Beur police station in this connection, he said.
The search, led by city superintendent of police (Patna central) Chandan Kushwaha, lasted for two-and-a-half hours.
The sources, however, said the officers visited the high security prison for the second time to verify information related to railway contracts and Ritlal's role in them.
Sushil had also accused Ritlal, the former mukhiya (panchayat head) of Kothwan in Danapur sub-division, of intimidating and exerting pressure on the mukhiyas and other people's representatives to favour him in the Council poll, slated to be held on July 7.
Ritlal is facing several charges of murder, kidnapping and extortion.
Though Ritlal claimed to have got the blessings of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls had nominated him as the party's general secretary, the RJD denied that he (Ritlal) was a member.
RJD state president Ram Chandra Purbey, at the time of filing nominations for the Council poll, had clarified that the RJD has dissociated itself from Ritlal. His name spells terror among the railway contractors in the Danapur railway division of East Central Railway.
Ritlal was accused of killing two prominent railway contractors - Anil Kumar Yadav, 40, and Vijay Yadav, 30 - in an AC coach of Howrah-Danapur Express in 2004. The duo were attacked while returning to Patna from Howrah after bidding tender for painting a railway bridge.
Ritlal's name had also figured in the killing of BJP leader Satyanarayan Sinha, the husband of Danapur MLA Asha Devi, near Jamaluddin Chak at Khagaul over a decade ago. Ritlal was also on the radar of the enforcement directorate, which confiscated his ill-gotten assets under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
In the past, several such criminals joined the fray with others to test their luck in the elections with money and muscle power.
