Bhagalpur, July 20: The district police have reportedly initiated proceedings to arrest Union food processing minister Subodh Kant Sahay and a Congress leader from the area Jyoti Singh in a case related to the violation of the model code of conduct.

Bhagalpur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Sanjay Singh today justified the FIR against the two in connection with the case during last year’s Assembly polls.

Sources said on September 9, 2010, an FIR was lodged with Kotwali police station on the complaint of circle officer of Jagdishpur S.P. Verma.

Verma, who was deputed in Bhagalpur during polls as a magistrate, recovered a joint poster of Sahay and Singh on an electric pole. “After completing the formalities of supervision, the SSP has found the case to be true. As per norms, when a senior officer conducts the supervision and finds charges to be true, the signal for an arrest is given,” a police source said.

Sources in local Congress said the posters were put up in the city while the leader came for a programme in October last year. They blamed the district cops for the move.

Sanjay Singh was not available for his comment but sources close to him said with the recent development in the case, K.D. Roy, the investigating officer in the case, could now initiate the arrest of the Union minister and the Congress leader.

According to party sources, the minister earlier came to Bhagalpur in October last year for a programme and for that posters were fixed in the city.

“The polls were announced after the poster was put up and the party failed to remove one of such posters from the oublic place,” a party source said.