Tej Pratap Yadav demands Jharkhand Police to withdraw case against him and others for violating COVID guidelines

RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav on Sunday demanded Jharkhand Police to withdraw the case against him and others for violating COVID-19 lockdown guidelines as he stayed at the hotel in Ranchi without permission.

"The case should be filed against the Jharkhand government. I went to visit my father. I demanded a guest house from the government, but I was not provided one. I cannot sleep on the road," said Yadav.

He added that his convoy consists of four cars and the rest of the people joined him without his knowledge.

Jharkhand Police on August 29 filed an FIR against Yadav, under sections 188, 269, 270, and 34 of IPC at Ranchi's Chutia police station on a written complaint of a circle officer (CO).

The CO had received information that rooms had been given to Tej Pratap Yadav flouting the rules during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his complaint, CO has said it was found after verification that Tej Pratap Yadav and others were staying at the hotel without obtaining any permission from concerned authorities. Furthermore, he left for his home state without following home quarantine rules. This is the violation of government guidelines and is against the Disaster Management Act.

A case under section 188 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was also registered against the owner and manager of a hotel where Yadav stayed when he visited the city to meet his father Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Tej Pratap was in Ranchi on August 27 and met his father and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav at RIMS director's bungalow.

( With inputs from ANI )