RJD suspends its MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav from party on rape charges

Patna: Taking a serious note of rape charges levelled against its MLA, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Sunday suspended Raj Ballabh Yadav from the party with immediate effect. “The party has taken a serious note of the rape charges levelled against MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav. We have suspended him from the party with immediate effect,” RJD state president Ram Chandra Purbe told PTI. The party also served a show cause notice to the legislator to explain his position, Purbe added. [caption id=“attachment_2597870” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] Deputy Inspector General of (DIG) Police Shalin had on Saturday issued an arrest order following a complaint against the MLA by a 15-year-old girl from Nalanda who has alleged that Yadav raped him on 6 February at his residence at Pathra under Mufassil police station of Nawada district. The statement of the girl has been taken under section 164 of IPC and an FIR was lodged against Yadav with Women police station, Nalanda, on 9 February, he said. The girl had identified the accused MLA when his photograph was shown to her and later she identified him in person also, the DIG had said. Yadav won from Nawada seat on RJD ticket in the recent Assembly election and has previously served as a minister in the RJD government. Yadav’s could not be contacted on his mobile phone as it was ‘out of coverage’. Meanwhile, a team from Women’s police station of Nalanda could not enter Raj Ballabh Yadav’s residence at Pathra village of Nawada district after latter’s (Yadav’s) supporters prevented the police team from doing so, Nawada’s Mufassil police station SHO Rakesh Kumar said. A police team from Nalanda had gone to collect bedsheet and clothes for forensic test but Yadav’s supporters demanded the presence of a magistrate to collect the forensic evidence, SHO said. PTI