Patna: State Congress functionaries and workers on Sunday staged a protest against the arrest of Purnia MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav. They alleged that the arrest was carried out because Yadav had been a vocal critic of the govt and the state police over their failure to crack the sexual assault-cum-death case of a medical aspirant from Jehanabad in Patna.During the protest, Congress leaders and workers shouted slogans against the govt. The protesters said the issues at the centre of their agitation were what they described as police insensitivity in the NEET student case, the arrest of Yadav and the alleged protection being enjoyed by criminals in the state.
The protest came a day after senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi condemned Yadav’s arrest by the Patna police on Saturday. Police officers, however, said the MP had been arrested in connection with an old case.Congress leaders said the midnight arrest of Yadav amounted to a “direct assault on democracy, and is also an instance of the misuse of power.Those leading the protest included state Congress functionaries Sanjeev Singh, Raushan Kumar Singh, Kumar Ashish, Pankaj Yadav and Asitnath Tiwari.
