BJP leader Yashwant Sinha surrenders to police after FIR

Hazaribagh (Jharkhand) Apr 12: Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha and 18 others today surrendered to a police station, a day after Central Coalfield Limited (CCL) lodged an FIR against them for allegedly holding its General Manager Prabhakar Chaki captive in its office at Charhi near here.

The accused went to Charhi police station and surrendered in the presence of Sub-divisional Officer Kumkum Prasad and Additional SP Sudarshan Mandal, police said.

The accused dismissed the allegation as "baseless" and said they would prefer jail to bail as they were on a 'Satyagraha'. The CCL had yesterday filed the FIR against Sinha and 18 others charging them with holding its GM captive for six hours on April 10.

A large number of people including the accused demonstrated in support of their demands including opening a new coal dump yard to allow villagers of Phusri benefit from coal sale.

The demand was rejected by the GM on the ground that there was already one dump yard at Bahera under the same project, CCL sources said.

PTI