Former Bihar health minister and son of RJD head Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tej Pratap Yadav, a Ranchi hotelier and his manager have been booked under different sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for violation of Covid-19 lockdown police said Friday.
The FIR against Tej Pratap was presented at the Ranchi police station in Chutia on Friday. “Tej Pratap was booked under sections 269 and 270 of the Indian Panel Code (IPC),” said Ravi Thakur, officer in charge of the Chutia police station. However, the FIR copy mentions two sections 188 and 34 of the IPC.
The case was raised in a written complaint from the circle officer (CO), Ranchi, Prakash Kumar. In his complaint, Kumar said that when he, along with the officer in charge Chutia, visited room no-507 of the hotel around 9 p.m. Thursday, Tej Pratap and other people were found there without any prior information or permission.
According to the complaint, “He (Tej Pratap) did not have a letter of authorization from any competent authority for his stay. Furthermore, he returned to Bihar without completing the mandatory 14-day home quarantine, which is a violation of the government order during the Covid-19 pandemic. ”
The day before, on Thursday night, the owner and manager of the Capitol Residency hotel across the street from Ranchi station were booked for allegedly offering Tej Pratap space. The FIR was brought against them at the Chutia de Ranchi police station in a written complaint from the circle officer (CO), Ranchi, Prakash Kumar.
The officer in charge of the Chutia police station said: “The manager of the Dushyant Kumar hotel and the owner have been booked under sections 188 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).”
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He said hotels have not yet been allowed to operate in Jharkhand amid the pandemic. “In that case, they cannot offer rooms to anyone. It is a violation of the confinement rules ”, she added.
Pratap was in Ranchi on Thursday and met with the former chief minister of Bihar and his father Lalu Prasad Yadav at Kelly’s bungalow located on the premises of the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS). Yadav is receiving medical treatment there. Charged in the forage scam, the RJD president was serving jail time and was admitted to RIMS in December 2018 for treatment of his critical illness.
Pratap told the media that he met with his father to ask about his health and also discussed political issues. Before meeting Lalu, Pratap underwent a rapid antigen test and was allowed to meet his father after testing negative for SARS-Cov-2.
When Jharkhand RJD President Abhay Singh was contacted for comment on the FIR, he said: “I have no official information of such development. As far as I know, Tej Pratap had left the city on Thursday night. ”
BJP state spokesman Pratul Shahdeo said the FIR was brought against Tej Pratap after constant pressure from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “We have been pushing when more than 60 vehicles entered the city with the RJD leader. A large contingent of party workers from Bihar and Jharkhand accompanied the leader in an open violation of social distancing and other Covid-19 norms in the hospital and around the city, ”Shahdeo said.
In reaction to the development, officials from the Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FJCCI) said the FIR was not necessary. “Hotel owners know that offering rooms to anyone during closure is a violation of the Covid-19 protocol. But, the situation for them becomes difficult when leaders like Tej Pratap look for a place. The administration must be careful when these leaders visit Ranchi, ”said Dheeraj Taneja, FJCCI secretary general.
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