SC for shifting of Pappu from Bihar

The Supreme Court today declared its intention to move the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) member of Parliament Pappu Yadav out of Bihar, following a series of illegal activities in the Beur Jail in Patna.

The court asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to suggest an alternative place for him. When the CBI counsel suggested that Tihar jail in Delhi had video-conferencing facilities and he could be moved into the central jail here, the judges showed reluctance to pass an order to that effect.

The apex court Bench consisting of Justice Santosh Hegde and Justice SB Sinha also transferred the cases pending in the Patna High Court to the Supreme Court to avoid parallel orders.

The high court had ordered a raid on the jail on a petition moved by the Indian Medical Association alleging that the recent kidnapping of doctors for ransom had been master-minded from the jail.

The raid party had recovered cell phones from the MP and others in the jail through which they had contacted persons outside including state ministers.

The Supreme Court has asked the cell company executives to report to it instead of the high court. The case will be heard again on January 4.

The court was upset by the report that a large number of Yadav's supporters were present in the jail during the raid and they indulged in violence. The inspector-general of prisons himself was locked up by his supporters.

"If we look back, after his bail was cancelled, he was kept in the hospital and given VVIP facilities in the false pretext that there was no bed available in the prison ward," the court said. The RJD member of Parliament is in jail waiting for trial for a murder.

In the report submitted to the court today, the CBI said the suspended jail superintendent PK Jha had flouted all jail manual rules while allowing Yadav's supporters to enter the jail in large numbers. It was a serious security threat, according to its report.