The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)’s MLA Ritlal Yadav, whose premises had been raided by the Bihar police in an extortion case Friday, has been a identified strongman within the Danapur belt in Patna district for years now.
The most recent case by which Ritlal has been booked by the police relies on an extortion criticism by a Patna-based builder who alleged that he and his aides had been threatened by the RJD MLA to pay a “minimize” to him from their initiatives.
The police raided 11 premises in Danapur and different localities throughout Patna linked to Ritlal and his associates as a part of its investigation into the case, claiming to recuperate greater than Rs 10 lakh in money, cheques of Rs 77 lakh, six clean cheques, 14 deeds associated to sale and buy of properties and 17 cheque books.
Ritlal, 53, presently faces 42 legal instances. These embody instances of homicide, try and homicide, extortion, rioting in addition to these underneath the Arms Act within the Danapur, Bihta, Maner, Khagaul and Beur police station areas.
Native courts have taken cognisance in 10 of those instances to date, together with two attempt-to-murder instances and 4 underneath the Arms Act. Ritlal has not been convicted in any of them.
In 2003, Ritlal was booked for the homicide of BJP chief Satyanarayan Sinha.
He was nevertheless acquitted by the Patna MP and MLA court docket in 2024 on this case. Sinha’s widow Asha Sinha, who was additionally a former Danapur MLA, has challenged the decrease court docket verdict within the Patna Excessive Court docket, the place the matter has been pending.
Story continues beneath this advert
JD (U) chief spokesperson and MLC Neeraj Kumar mentioned, “Whereas it has turn out to be trendy for Chief of Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav to speak about crime, we surprise why RJD doesn’t take any disciplinary motion in opposition to Ritlal Yadav, who faces extortion allegations at common intervals. Underneath the Nitish Kumar regime, police took motion in opposition to a number of folks together with former RJD Siwan MP Mohammed Shahabuddin and even former Mokama MLA Anant Singh.”
RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari, nevertheless, mentioned: “First, the court docket will determine if Ritlal Yadav is an accused in newest extortion and different pending instances or not. We additionally doubt that the state authorities has been making an attempt to defame our celebration as a result of our chief Tejashwi Prasad Yadav has been making an attempt to indicate mirror to the Nitish Kumar authorities on rising crime graph”.
Not RJD’s first selection
Ritlal, son of a small farmer Ramashish Rai, has allegedly extorted a number of builders and land builders, who purchased land plots or began developing buildings in Danapur and Khagaul areas. “Whereas most builders wouldn’t lodge criticism in opposition to Ritlal Yadav, a number of builders dared to go to police in opposition to the muscleman, also referred to as Mukhiaji”, mentioned a police officer.
Ritlal, who studied until Class 12, had been nursing his political ambition since 2010. Although he didn’t get a ticket from any political celebration within the 2010 Bihar Meeting polls, he received as an Unbiased within the state Legislative Council elections 5 years later.
Story continues beneath this advert
Regardless of Tejashwi’s reported reservations over his candidature, the RJD fielded Ritlal within the 2020 polls from the Danapur constituency in opposition to four-time BJP MLA Asha Devi Sinha, whom he defeated by over 15,900 votes.
As per his 2020 election affidavit, Ritlal has property price Rs 1 crore from his farming and milk companies.
