Bihar poll shock: RJD’s Satendra Sah arrested immediately after filing nomination

In a dramatic turn of events in Bihar’s election season, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) candidate Satendra Sah was arrested immediately after filing his nomination for the Sasaram assembly seat on October 20. The Jharkhand Police apprehended Sah under a non-bailable warrant (NBW) linked to a 2004 bank robbery case at Chirounjiya More in Garhwa district.

A senior police officer from Rohtas district said, “As Sah reached the office of the circle officer to submit his nomination papers on Monday, Jharkhand Police executed a pending NBW. He was allowed to file the papers, but was arrested shortly thereafter.”

Sunil Tiwari, officer-in-charge of Sadar police station in Garhwa, added that Sah has over 20 cases registered against him across multiple police stations, including charges of robbery, dacoity, and violations of the Arms Act. A permanent warrant in the 2004 case had been issued against him in 2018.

Sah’s arrest marks the third instance of opposition candidates from the INDIA bloc being detained after filing their nomination papers in the current Bihar polls. Earlier, CPI(ML) Liberation candidates Jitendra Paswan (Bhore) and Satyadeo Ram (Darauli) were similarly arrested.

CPI(ML) Liberation has condemned the arrests, alleging political motivations. The party’s statement accused the BJP-JD(U) alliance of using “repression, intimidation, and misuse of police and administrative machinery to silence democratic opposition and suppress people’s voices.”

The 243-member Bihar assembly is set to go to polls in two phases on November 6 and 11, with results scheduled for November 14.