A court in Purnea on Thursday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Rupauli Bima Bharti, JDU MLA from the district, and two other accused in a murder case.
The MLA, wife of notorious ganglord of the Kosi belt Awadhesh Mandal, her private secretary Mahavir Mandal and another person called Motka Awadhesh were earlier absolved by the Bhawanipur police in the murder case of Chanchal Paswan, who was killed on May 6, 2005.
Turning aside the police findings, additional district and sessions judge (V) Hausala Prasad Tripathy issued an arrest warrant against the three.
The lawmaker had failed to turn up at the court, around 301km east of Patna, on Wednesday.
The court took cognisance of the statement of Chanchal's widow Sonia Devi, who claimed the police had granted the accused relief as the accused had political connections, said Purnea civil court lawyer Awadhesh Tiwary who is fighting the case for Sonia.
The family of Chanchal, a resident of Naugachhia Tola (Bhittha), allege he was murdered for opposing Bima Bharti in the Assembly elections in February 2005.
Sonia recorded her statement on February 4 this year.
"The court ordered a non-bailable warrant after the accused failed to depose in the court," advocate Tiwary said.
Bima Bharti called the murder allegations a conspiracy hatched by her political opponents.
"I am being implicated in the murder case out of political vendetta," Bima Bharti told reporters.
"I will give them (her opponents) a befitting reply shortly," she vowed.
A police officer said the MLA would be arrested as soon as the copy of the warrant reaches the office of the Patna senior superintendent of police or the office of the director-general of police as she lives in an official bungalow in the capital.
Advocate Tiwary said Bharti, also a former minister, and other accused have been charged under Sections 302 (murder), 342 (wrongful confinement), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 27 of the Arms Act.
The MLA had earlier sparked controversy when she got her husband released from police lockup. He was later arrested and forwarded to judicial custody.
Awadhesh Mandal is currently lodged in Purnea divisional jail.
