Durg/Balodabazar: Congress MLA Devendra Yadav was arrested on Saturday in connection with the June 10 violence in Chhattisgarh's Balodabazar city during a Satnami community agitation, a police official said.
Yadav accused the BJP government of implicating Congress workers in the arson case.
Yadav was apprehended from his residence in Durg district and brought to Balodabazar, the headquarters of Balodabazar-Bhatapara district, where he was arrested, said Balodabazar Superintendent of Police Vijay Agrawal.
Several supporters of Yadav gathered outside his residence in Bhilai Nagar area in Durg and raised slogans after word spread about the police's action. Yadav, an influential young face of the party, is a second-term MLA from Bhilai Nagar constituency.
Yadav was arrested in connection with a case registered at Kotwali police station in the Balodabazar arson incident, Agrawal said.
The case was registered under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 147 (punishment for rioting), 186 (voluntary obstruction of a public servant from performing their duties), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 307 (attempt to murder), and others of the India Penal Code and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984.
Yadav was produced in a local court which remanded him to judicial custody till August 20, Agrawal said.
According to sources, police had summoned Yadav at least three times to record his statement but he didn't cooperate, following which he was apprehended.
Police personnel from Balodabazar with their Durg counterpart reached Yadav's house at around 7 AM. As the news spread, Yadav's supporters tried to protect the MLA and raised slogans. Police finally managed to whisk away Yadav with them at around 5 pm, an official said.
Unidentified persons had vandalised 'jaitkham' or 'victory pillar', a sacred symbol worshipped by the Satnami community, near the Amar Gufa at Giroudpuri Dham in the Balodabazar-Bhatapara district on the intervening night of May 15 and 16 this year, triggering protests in June.
On June 10, a mob set fire to a government office building and more than 150 vehicles in Balodabazar city during a protest called by Satnamis against the alleged ransacking of the 'victory pillar', leading to the imposition of section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Congress leaders, including Yadav, had allegedly attended a public meeting during the demonstration held by Satnamis at Dussehra Maidan.
Around 150 people, including members of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) and the Bhim "Regiment" were arrested in connection with the June 10 arson.
The influential Satnami community, founded by medieval-era social reformer Baba Guru Ghasidas, represents the largest Scheduled Castes group in Chhattisgarh.
Slamming the ruling BJP, Yadav said he was not scared of the government and would continue his fight for the people.
"The state government has been trying to implicate Congress workers in the Balodabazar arson case. The government took action against me for raising my voice for the youth of the Satnami community and innocents. I am not scared of the government and I will fight the legal battle," he said in Bhilai.
Yadav claimed he had appeared before Balodabazar police in the past after being summoned.
Former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel termed Yadav's arrest as a political vendetta and asked police not to act on political pressure.
"The role of the government and police in the entire incident is suspicious. No member of BJP was either questioned or arrested, despite the alleged role of its former MLA Sanam Jangde surfaced in the incident," Baghel alleged.
A video of a demonstration of the Satnami community shows Yadav neither climbing on the stage nor waiting there for long. The arrest of Devendra Yadav is purely out of political malice and we oppose it, he said.
"We will take legal suggestions and decide accordingly the future course of action," Baghel added.
Yadav is also an accused in the cases lodged by the Enforcement Directorate and the state's Anti Corruption Bureau/Economic Offence Wing in connection with an alleged coal levy scam unearthed when Congress was in power in Chhattisgarh.