Bihar’s newly elected Member of Parliament Rajesh Ranjan aka Pappu Yadav, was booked on Monday for allegedly attempting to extort money from a businessman. The incident occurred on June 4, when the votes for the Lok Sabha polls were being counted.
According to police reports, Yadav summoned the businessman, who owns a furnishing business in Bihar’s Purnea district, and allegedly demanded Rs 1 crore from him. Following this, the businessman lodged a complaint and filed a case against the MP and his close aide Amit Yadav at the Muffasil police station.
The businessman alleged in his complaint that Pappu Yadav had made similar demands in 2021 and 2023. The MP also threatened to eliminate the businessman if the demand was not met and warned him that he would have to “deal” with Yadav for five years, according to the police.
Yadav, who has a history of using strongarm tactics throughout his over thirty-year political career, was elected from the Purnea LS segment. He defeated two-term JD (U) MP Santosh Kushwaha by a margin of 23,847 votes. The independent candidate secured over 5.67 lakh votes, while the JD (U) nominee garnered 5.43 lakh votes. Meanwhile, RJD candidate Bima Bharti, a JD(U) turncoat who resigned from the state assembly to contest the election, finished third and lost her deposit, receiving only 27,120 votes.
