Patna:

Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor, who was on Monday arrested for an “illegal” fast unto death and then released on “unconditional” bail, has been taken to a hospital in Patna after his health deteriorated last night.

Mr Kishor was arrested from Patna’s Gandhi Maidan early Monday morning, in pursuance of a case against him last week for holding ‘Aamaran anshan’ (fast unto death) at Gandhi Maidan, in violation of a Patna High Court order that forbids any such demonstration at a place other than Gardani Bagh locality in the city.

Mr Kishor, who was an election strategist before he plunged into politics full-time, was on an indefinite fast since January 2 to back the civil service aspirants who have been demanding the cancellation of the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) examination, which was held in December last year.

He was produced before a Patna court Monday afternoon, which granted him bail with the condition that, he claimed, he must give a written undertaking not to take part in any “illegal” protest in future.

Mr Kishor and his legal team held that the condition was tantamount to “admitting guilt” and he was then remanded to judicial custody. He was later released by the authorities in the evening.

Prashant Kishor On Why He Rejected Bail

Speaking to reporters outside the court last evening, Prashant Kishor explained why he refused to sign a bail bond.

“I was taken to the court and I was granted bail but in the bail order it was mentioned that I should not do any wrongdoings, so I rejected it and I accepted to go to jail,” he said.

He also narrated the sequence of events of Monday morning: “Around 4 am, police reached Gandhi Maidan, where I have been sitting on an indefinite fast unto death for the last five days. They told me that they were detaining me and asked me to go with them. I left with them. Since my supporters were also with me, it’s natural that a minor clash broke out (between them and the police). But by and large, the behaviour of the police was not wrong.”

“After we left Gandhi Maidan, the police didn’t tell me where they were taking me. They took me to AIIMS. I was there for more than an hour. They refused to admit me and I have no idea why. The police then tried to take me to a different hospital but by then a large crowd of my supporters had gathered at the gate of AIIMS. There was again a minor clash at the gate. From there, the behaviour of the police started deteriorating,” he added.

He claimed he was made to sit in the police vehicle from 5 am to 11 am and that they kept taking him to different places.

“They told me they would either take me to PMCH (Patna Medical College and Hospital) or NMCH (Nalanda Medical College and Hospital) but eventually, after five hours, they took me to Fatuha’s community centre. They wanted to conduct my medical test and get a certificate from the doctors there. I refused to give my consent for that because I wasn’t involved in any criminal activity. Police tried to convince the doctors for a certificate but they refused to give any such illegal certificate,” Mr Kishor alleged.

He claimed that the police argued that they had to take a “longer route for crowd management”.

Patna:

Amid the stalemate over demand for cancellation of a recent competitive exam in Bihar, a close aide of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday asserted that it has received no evidence, so far, of question paper leak.

The averment came from Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, one of the senior-most ministers in the state cabinet, a day after the chief secretary spoke to a delegation of protesters, in a gesture aimed at breaking the deadlock.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Chaudhary said, “The government could not have acted with greater clarity. The top official gave a patient hearing to the aggrieved party. But, to my information, no evidence of question paper leak has been furnished so far.” “So, as of now, we hold that there has been no paper leak. This is also the stand of the public service commission. One examination centre had witnessed some disturbances and a re-examination has been ordered for the candidates who were affected,” the minister said.

“But obviously, there was a conspiracy. Rumours of question paper leak were spread, but nobody knew where was it leaked, and to whom. Those behind this played with the future of young students. They must be unmasked,” he said.

The minister’s statement was in line with the stand taken by the BPSC over the matter.

The Combined Competitive Exams were held on December 13 when hundreds, all of them at the Bapu Pariksha Parisar in the state capital, boycotted the test alleging that the question paper had been leaked.

The commission has since ordered a re-examination for over 10,000 candidates who have been asked to appear for fresh test at different centres in the city on January 4.

However, the commission has also held the view that the exam was held properly at the remaining 911 centres across Bihar with no complaints from over five lakh candidates.

But, a section of aspirants have launched an agitation, holding that re-examination must be ordered for all the centres to ensure “level playing field”.

The stir, which comes less than a year ahead of assembly polls, has received support from all political players opposed to the state’s ruling NDA, including Jan Suraaj Party founded by Prashant Kishor, who has been labelled as “the government’s B team” by the main opposition party RJD.

Kishor, who had on Sunday led a demonstration that ended in crackdown by police, has urged the protesters to hold their horses till January 1 and resume their agitation if the government fails to come up with a positive response.

Meanwhile, leaders of the CPI(ML) Liberation attempted a ‘Raj Bhavan march’, only to be thwarted by police well ahead of the high-security area where the governor resides.

The Left party was joined in the procession by allies, Congress, CPI and CPI(M).

In a statement, the CPI(ML)-L alleged police “misbehaved” with those taking part in the procession, including Sudama Prasad, the sitting MP from Arrah, and MLC Shashi Yadav.

Later, the party added, “Upon a proposal received from the Raj Bhavan, a memorandum was submitted to the governor’s principal secretary Robert L Chongthu by a five-member delegation.” Demands raised in the memorandum included inquiry into the alleged paper leak and action against officials who may have been responsible for the same.

The delegation included legislative party leaders Mehboob Alam (CPI-ML), Shakil Ahmed Khan (Congress), Ram Ratan Singh (CPI) and Ajay Kumar (CPI-M).

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)