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Jailed criminals show democracy is alive and kicking in Bihar

Soroor Ahmed in Patna

Dreaded dons and outlaws have done it again: they have marched into the Bihar assembly without any hurdle.

Most of them won hands down as their opponents failed to match their fire and muscle power. Fighting the elections from behind bars was no barrier for them as their writ runs large in their respective pockets.

The most surprising aspect is that almost all these legislators are from the upper castes, and are either from the National Democratic Alliance camp or independents. After the results, in fact, several Samata leaders have visited the Beur Central Jail in Patna and the Hajipur Jail to seek their support in the legislature. Almost all of the newly elected MLAs are facing charges of murder, dacoity, rape, abduction etc.

The outlaws have reportedly chosen Suraj Bhan, who defeated sitting minister Dilip Singh by a margin of 50,000, as their leader. Bhan has 26 cases of all kinds pending against him, and is lodged in Beur jail. There are cases pending against him in Uttar Pradesh too. His choice as the `leader' was almost automatic as he is considered the `guru' of many notorious gangsters from north India and Nepal, including Sri Prakash Shukla who was gunned down in Ghaziabad last year. Although he won as an independent he was supported by the Samata Party, which is why the NDA is hopeful of his support.

Rama Singh, the newly elected Janata Dal-United legislator from Mahnar, which falls under the Hajipur parliamentary constituency, is reputed to be close to Telecommunications Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, who even visited him in jail once. His 'empire' is stretches from Surat in the west to Calcutta in the east. He too defeated a sitting minister, Munshi Lal Rai, by a margin of over 40,000 votes.

It was Singh's gang which was involved in the abduction of Patna-based industrialist Vinod Bansal. Ironically, the NDA created a storm over the issue and bitterly criticised the Rabri Devi government over the deteriorating law and order situation. Last year Singh's gang is alleged to have received a whopping amount for the safe release of a Calcutta-based industrialist.

Vijay Kumar Shukla alias Munna Shukla, the younger brother of notorious dons Chotun and Bhutkan Shukla, contested the elections from the Hajipur jail and defeated the RJD candidate by over 50,000 votes. Before the elections Munna tried to get an RJD ticket, but Laloo Yadav flatly refused his demand.

Ghummal Singh, wanted by the Maharashtra, UP, Bihar and Delhi police, has been chargesheeted in 174 cases. He was declared an absconder by the police way back in 1977, and reportedly shot into the limelight by murdering a close aide of Dawood Ibrahim in Bombay. Ghummal Singh won from Baniapur as an independent.

Rajen Tiwary was wanted for the murders of former Bihar minister Braj Bihari Chaudhary and CPI-M leader Ajit Sarkar in June 1998. He won from Govindganj as an independent while still incarcerated in Beur jail. He too was considered close to Shri Prakash Shukla, and is alleged to be involved in the murder of former UP legislator Virendra Shahi. Incidentally, he was arrested from the house of a BJP MP in Delhi.

Sunil Pandey, a notorious gangster, is now Samata Party MLA from Piro in central Bihar. According to police records he is a Ranvir Sena activist, and is allegedly involved in a number of Dalit massacres. There are in all five cases pending against him.

The huge victory margin of these candidates is a pointer to the fact that even though lodged in jail, they still call the shots.

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