Patna: Independent MP from Bihar’s Purnia constituency, Pappu Yadav, was arrested by police late on Friday night in connection with a criminal case dating back more than three decades, officials said.
The arrest relates to a case registered in 1995 at Patna’s Shastri Nagar police station (Case No. 552/1995, GR No. 775/03), stemming from a dispute over a house rented in 1994, the year Yadav was elected to parliament for the first time. According to court records, the magistrate took cognisance of the case on April 30, 1996 while charges were framed on September 11, 1998.
Police said the arrest followed Yadav’s repeated failure, along with two co-accused, to appear before the court despite multiple summons over the years.
The case originates from a complaint filed by the landlord, Manoj Bihari Lal, who alleged that Yadav had rented the property in Patna for residential use but subsequently began operating his political office from the same premises. Lal claimed that the frequent arrival of large numbers of supporters caused persistent disruption, prompting him to ask the occupants to vacate the house. When they refused, he approached the court.
Two others, Shailendra Prasad and Chandra Narayan Prasad, were also named as accused, allegedly for their role in facilitating the rental arrangement.
In addition, the complaint includes allegations that Yadav illegally constructed a political office on the rooftop of the fifth floor of the apartment building where he lived. The office, linked to the Jan Adhikar Party—since merged with the Congress—is alleged to have been functioning from the site since 1994. Other residents of the building have said they faced long-standing inconvenience due to continuous crowds and political activity.
Yadav’s arrest is tied to the prolonged legal dispute over the alleged conversion of a residential property into a political office, a case that has remained unresolved for more than three decades.
