Thursday, October 27 2005 17:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Jamui: A district court today (Oct 27, 2005) reserved its order on an anticipatory bail application moved by Union Minister of State for Water Resources Jaiprakash Narain Yadav, against whom a non-bailable warrant of arrest has been issued.

A state-wide alert has also been sounded by the police for his arrest.

Yadav's counsel had yesterday (Oct 26, 2005) moved the court of district and sessions judge of Jamui, Subhas Kumar Singh, seeking bail.

While senior advocates of Patna High Court Rana Pratap Singh and C R Sinha argued for Yadav, public prosecutor Abdul Shaqui vehemently opposed their plea for bail and prayed for submission of the case diary to examine the charges levelled against him in two to three days before passing an order.

In an FIR registered on October 22, the minister was charged with entering into a criminal conspiracy with the officer-in-charge of Khaira police station for the 'illegal escape' from custody of his brother and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate for Jamui assembly seat Vijay Prakash.

Prakash was arrested during the first phase of Bihar polls on October 18 for going around with a rifle, ammunition, Rs 6.68 lakh in cash and 50 bottles of liquor.

Pleading for Yadav's bail, his counsel charged police with dragging the minister's name in the 'illegal release' of his brother under a conspiracy. The application of section 409 of the IPC (criminal breach of trust by a public servant) was an afterthought and a well-hatched conspiracy, his counsel claimed.

The minister's house at Jamui was also raided yesterday. Meanwhile, officer-in-charge of Khaira police station, Mukteswar Prasad, whose name also figured in the FIR, has been suspended.

Also named in the FIR were independent candidate Ashok Ram and RJD worker Batohi Yadav. The court had on October 24 issued non-bailable arrest warrants against all five accused.