PATNA: The arrest of Babubhai Katara in a human trafficking racket has certainly given a jolt to his voters and the BJP. But if Katara had been an MP from Bihar, his arrest would probably not have come as much of a surprise. The reason —Bihar has more than its fair share of tainted MPs. While many of them have a long list of criminal cases, others are wanted in a multitude of scams.
The list of tainted MPs from Bihar would be incomplete without mentioning Railway Minister Lalu Yadav. Till date, Lalu faces trial in four cases pertaining to the Rs 980-crore fodder scam. His MP brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav is no better. Besides being wanted in the flood-relief scam case, Sadhu faces a number of criminal charges, including assaulting an IAS officer in his office chamber.
The dubious distinction of topping the list of MPs facing the maximum number of criminal cases goes to RJD MPs Mohd Shahabuddin and Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, along with Lok Janshakti MP Surajbhan Singh. Shahabuddin and Pappu Yadav have been languishing in Siwan and Tihar jails respectively for quite some time now and though Surajbhan recently came out of jail, he is likely to be behind bars very soon as other trials where he is accused are nearing conclusion.
The case of Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav, union minister of state for water resources, is equally interesting. He was sent to jail while he was the education minister in Bihar, in a case popularly known as the ‘B.Ed scam’. On becoming a member of the Lok Sabha and a junior minister in the Manmohan Singh cabinet, he was named in another criminal case, this time on the charge of freeing his younger brother forcibly from police lock up. Upon absconding, he was dropped from the ministry but soon he surrendered, got bail, and was re-inducted into the ministry where he continues till date.
Last, but certainly not the least, there is the case of RJD MP Mohd. Taslimuddin. He was dropped from the post of minister of state for home affairs in the Deve Gowda government, after his criminal antecedents were made public by the media.
