Former co-operative minister Ramadhar Singh on his way to Aurangabad court with his supporters on Thursday. Picture by Sanjay Choudhary

Patna/Gaya, May 26: An Aurangabad court today sent the ruling BJP MLA, Ramadhar Singh, behind the bars in a case of inciting communal violence after the demolition of the Babri mosque at Ayodhya in December 1992. Rejecting the legislator’s bail plea, Ashutosh Khetan, the in-charge of the sub-divisional judicial magistrate’s court, sent him to jail for 14 days.

Ramadhar was forced to resign as the state’s co-operative minister last week after it came to light that the court had issued an arrest warrant against him in 1995 and he was an “absconder” in the eyes of the law for the past 16 years.

The MLA reached the Aurangabad court sporting kurta-pyzama at 7.30am to surrender before the sub-divisional judicial magistrate in-charge. But his bail plea was rejected.

The four-time legislator from Aurangabad complained of chest pain and giddiness soon after the judge sent him to judicial custody. Doctors immediately conducted a health check-up on him and the court directed to shift him to the Aurangabad sadar hospital on health ground.

Ramadhar was initially taken to the jail. He was shifted to the hospital from there.

Aurangabad jail superintendent Wakil Prasad Singh said the prison administration would provide the legislator meal as per the recommendation of the doctors attending to him. Adequate security forces had been deployed around the legislator, the sub-divisional police officer of Aurangabad, Sanjay Kumar, told The Telegraph.

Ramadhar had, earlier, filed an anticipatory bail petition before Patna High Court, pleading he was unaware of the lower court’s warrant on him. But the high court rejected his plea, asking him to surrender before the lower court concerned.

The district administration had lodged a case against Ramadhar on December 17, 1992 after he delivered an “inflammatory speech whipping communal sentiments” at a village under Madanpur police station of Aurangabad district, 160km from Patna. The Aurangabad court had declared him an absconder on December 8, 1995.

Ramadhar is the second ruling NDA legislator to have landed in jail within a week. The JD (U) MLA from Hathua, Ram Sevak Singh, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly assaulting four youths and pouring petrol on the private parts of their body assuming that they had voted against his relative, who lost in the just-concluded panchayat polls.

Incidentally, Bihar’s two senior leaders from the ruling establishment have landed behind the bars in the season witnessing political heavyweights from Tamil Nadu landing in the jail in connection with the 2G spectrum scam. DMK Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi, former telecom minister A. Raja and Karunanidhi family-run Kalaignar TV’s managing director Sharad Kumar have been cooling their heals in Tihar jail.

There is a marked difference in the “treatment” meted out to the jailed leaders from Bihar and Tamil Nadu by their respective leadership, though. While the DMK boss, Karunanidhi, went to Delhi to meet his daughter and other leaders of his party in the jail, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has refused to take any side.

“The government will not side with anyone. The police will investigate the cases and the judiciary will adjudicate in accordance with the law,” Nitish said on the two ruling NDA legislators landing in jail.