Former Bihar minister Kartik Kumar facing kidnapping charges to appear in court today
India Today
Bihar minister Kartik Kumar, who resigned after he was shifted to the sugarcane industries department, will appear in a court in Danapur. He is facing an arrest warrant in connection with an alleged kidnapping case.
Former Bihar minister Kartik Kumar, who tendered his resignation after the Nitish Kumar-led government changed his portfolio, will appear before the Danapur court in a kidnapping case on Thursday, September 1. Kartik Kumar, who was shifted to the sugarcane industries ministry in place of law, is an accused in a kidnapping case.
The hearing of the anticipatory bail plea in an abduction case, pertaining to 2014, is scheduled to come up today in Danapur court. Kartik Kumar, a member of the legislative council (MLC), had failed to surrender in court despite an arrest warrant issued on July 19. The court had granted him relief till September 1.
On Wednesday, the 'tainted' RJD leader stepped down from his post and handed his resignation to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. This development came after the Bihar government stripped him of law portfolio and shifted him to the sugarcane industries Ministry. The transfer came amid growing outrage over his alleged involvement in criminal cases. The BJP had demanded Kartik Kumar's removal from the cabinet, alleging that an arrest warrant is pending against him in a 2014 kidnapping case.
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The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation (CPIML), a key ally in Bihar’s Mahagathbandhan government, wanted Nitish Kumar and his deputy, Tejashwi Yadav, to review the decision to appoint Kartik Kumar as a law minister in the cabinet. The Congress, another constituent of the ruling Grand Alliance, had also asked the Nitish Kumar government to reconsider the decision of inducting Kumar into the cabinet.
Kartik Kumar, who was elected to Bihar's Legislative Council in April, is considered close to don-turned-politician Anant Singh. He won the election from Patna on an RJD ticket. Soon after he took the oath as Bihar's law minister, a court issued an arrest warrant against him over his alleged involvement in a kidnapping case.
