SP MLA gets 3 months jail in 19-year-old road blocking case

Varanasi: An MP/MLA court in Azamgarh has sentenced Samajwadi Party MLA Ramakant Yadav and his three supporters to three months imprisonment in a 19-year-old case of blocking a road and disrupting govt work. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1,300 on each convict.

Azamgarh SP Hemraj Meena said punishment for the legislator was ensured under ‘Operation Conviction' launched against mafia in Uttar Pradesh.

In Apr 2006, Yadav, along with 250 supporters, had set up a tent at the Pawai crossing in Azmgarh and blocked a key passage, leading to massive inconvenience to commuters and disrupting govt work. The then Pawai police station officer, Moolchand Chaurasia, had lodged a case against Ramakant and his supporters.

Based on testimony of three witnesses and evidence presented by prosecution, court found Ramakant Yadav and his aides — Dayaram Bhaskar, Ramkishun Rajbhar and Ramkripal guilty — delivered the verdict on Tuesday.

In May 2023, Yadav had been sentenced to four months imprisonment in a 2019 case by MP-MLA court of Jaunpur on charges of assaulting a man. The MLA has been in jail since July 2022, when he had surrendered before MP-MLA court in a case of attempted murder and disturbing public order by blocking a road in 1998. He was also booked in another case in 2016. In Sep 2022, Yadav was transferred from Azamgarh district jail to Fatehgarh jail.

Yadav, a known political turncoat, reached the UP assembly for the fifth time after winning the Phoolpur Pawai seat in the 2022 assembly polls. He was also named as an accused in a hooch tragedy in Feb 2022. Yadav, who has been four-time MP on tickets of BSP, SP, and BJP, was also declared leader of inter-region gang-42.

Court granted him bail in cases lodged in 1998 and 2016, but he could not come out as on July 30, 2022, police produced file of Mahul hooch tragedy before the court, which ordered to extend Yadav's judicial remand.