Gaya, May 30: Former Bihar minister Surendra Yadav, wanted in connection with the abduction of businessman Atul Prakash and illegal confinement of policemen, surrendered here today and was remanded to judicial custody. Chief judicial magistrate (in-charge) Ravindra Prasad Thakur, in whose court Yadav surrendered, rejected his bail petition and remanded him to 14 days` judicial custody.
Atul, a Patna-based businessman had allegedly fled to Anand in Gujarat in the first week of April after `duping` some politicians of the ruling RJD.
In a bid to get back their money, Azad Gandhi, an RJD MLC, who was accompanying the police team returning from Gujarat after arresting Atul, persuaded the policemen to alight at Gaya and took Prakash to the residence of former Minister of State for Excise Surendra Yadav where he was tortured for three consecutive days. The sub-inspector of Kotwali police station in Patna Ramakant Ram, now in jail for his alleged involvement in Atul`s kidnapping and illegal confinement, approached Gaya police superintendent Ravindra Shanakaran on April 8 and narrated the entire story.
Following this, an FIR was registered with Ramapur police station against Yadav, Azad Gandhi and Pappu Yadav, brother-in law of Chief Minister Rabri Devi`s MLC brother Subhash Yadav.
Before surrendering in the CJM court today, Surendra Yadav had earlier moved the court of Gaya district and sessions judge Jawahar Prasad Choudhry for bail. Rejecting the bail application of Yadav, Choudhry had suggested a CBI inquiry into the Atul Prakash kidnapping case saying Bihar police cannot make an impartial inquiry since "bigwigs are involved in the case". Bureau Report