A BJP leader from Uttar Pradesh's Jhansi district has been arrested for his alleged involvement in a ₹100-crore betting case.

Accused Ashish Upadhyaya is chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Bank and regional vice-president of the BJP Kisan Morcha.

B.B.G.T.S. Murthy, senior superintendent of police (SSP) of Jhansi, told reporters on Saturday: “A team of the district police arrested Ashish, a bookie, from Delhi after many days of electronic surveillance and brought him here late on Friday night.

"The police had busted a betting racket and arrested Shubham Upadhyaya from Tilyani Bazaria, Vijay Badhawa from Sindhi Colony and Nitin Agrawal from Badagaon on Wednesday. They had revealed more names during interrogation. Since then, Ashish had been absconding. Our search for other bookies is still on," he said.

Ashish was hiding in a house in Chanakyapuri.

The Jhansi SSP said Ashish was the kingpin of the racket, but didn't divulge any more details.

On Friday, Baghpat police arrested Sudharas Chauhan, former city president of the BJP Yuva Morcha, in connection with the murder of a man and a woman in Allahabad.

Asked to comment on the back-to-back arrests, a BJP leader in Lucknow said: "Sudharas had left the BJP in 2021. We are trying to collect more details about Ashish. But the police are free to arrest any criminal and ensure that they are punished."

In a separate case, Fatehpur police have raised the reward for information on Bablu Thakur, BJP Yuva Morcha leader from the district, from ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh for his alleged involvement in a gang rape case. Police sources claimed that Bablu and his followers had accosted a woman in a secluded area and gang-raped her last month. Two co-accused have already been arrested and sent to jail.

The BJP has denied that Bablu was ever an office-bearer of any wing of the party.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has accused the BJP of creating anarchy in the state. "They commit crimes because they are protected by the system," he said.