MLA Jagannath Mahto at a programme in Bokaro on Monday. Picture by Pankaj Singh

Bokaro, Feb. 9: The law is catching up with JMM MLA Jagannath Mahto with a district judge having reprimanded the police once again for not executing a permanent arrest warrant pending against him since 2003 in connection with a murder case.

Additional district judge of Bokaro fast track court M.C.Verma is learnt to have sent out fresh notices to Bokaro superintendent of police Priya Dubey, the sub-divisional police officer of Bermo and officer in-charge of Chandrapura police station Mohan Pandey in December last year asking them to act on the warrant or else face contempt of court charges.

Verma said though the MLA — who was wanted in as many as five cases — had been exonerated in one and granted bail in three cases, he was yet to be tried in the murder case (session trial number 167/86, criminal case number 78/1985) booked at Chandrapura police station.

Verma said since the MLA was yet to surrender and since the prosecution failed to present him in court as directed earlier, the police was duty bound to execute the warrant pending against him since March 12, 2003.

On October 13 last year, while granting Mahto bail in three cases, a vacation court of Tenughat’s first class magistrate D.K. Mishra refused to accept his request to surrender in the murder case as relevant documents had not reached the court.

Mahto’s lawyer Mintu Babu claimed that if anything, the “system and not the accused” was to be blamed for the impasse. He said after the MLA surrendered on 27 September last year, the next date of hearing was fixed after the Puja holidays in November.

“Jagannath Mahto had surrendered but the case was not heard. It’s not the fault of the accused but the fault of the system,” Babu claimed, but added he did not remember the subsequent dates of hearing.

Neither would he comment on why Mahto hadn’t appeared in court subsequently.

The murder case against Mahto dates back to August 11, 1985 when one Karam Mahto alleged in an FIR that he saw his nephew, Dilu Mahto, being murdered the day before. He blamed four persons, including Jagannath Mahto, for the killing.

Investigations led to a case being lodged under various sections of the IPC, including 341, 323 and 302/34. On April 3, 2003, the Tenughat fast track court issued a permanent arrest warrant against Mahto.

The Dumri MLA’s history sheet came into focus after The Telegraph reported on September 10 last year that Bokaro district judge Mangal Murthy had ordered Bokaro SP Dubey as early as on July 20 to execute the arrest warrant.

Surprisingly, even after the judge’s order, the police did little to arrest the MLA who continued to roam freely within the state, occasionally interacting with the media to brag about his invincibility and also attending last year’s monsoon session of the Assembly.

Finally, on September 27, 2008, Mahto surrendered in court in connection with four of the five cases pending against him. A fortnight later on 13 October, he was exonerated in one and granted bail in three of the cases.

Dubey promised to implement the latest orders of the additional district judge, but did not comment on why the police hadn’t acted so far. “I have asked the ASP of Bermo Kranti Kumar to execute the warrant against the Dumri MLA as soon as possible,” she told The Telegraph yesterday.

Kumar said since he was new to the post he was yet to have the details of the case, but promised to take action as per law. “I have asked the officer in charge of Nawdih police station for executing the warrant urgently,” he said.