A newly elected Samajwadi Party MLA in Uttar Pradesh has been booked for kidnapping for allegedly confining to his home for five months a leader close to the BJP to prevent him from campaigning in the Assembly elections.

Mahendra Nath Yadav, the MLA of Basti Sadar, has denied the charge and said Raj Kumar, the block pramukh of Bahadurgarh, used to live in his house as an aide. Yadav alleged vindictive action against him for his poll win.

Police said they rescued Kumar, his wife and four children from Yadav’s residence in Basti district.

Ashish Srivastava, the superintendent of police of Basti, said: “Om Prakash alias Mithai Lal, a local, approached the police on March 18 and said his brother-in-law Raj Kumar had been held captive by Mahendra Nath Yadav. Om Prakash said Yadav came to Kumar’s home on October 23, 2021, and took him away. A week later, the Samajwadi politician took away Kumar’s wife and four children. We raided Yadav’s house at night and rescued all six safely.”

“We have registered a case of kidnapping against the MLA and are conducting an inquiry,” the police chief said.

Yadav defeated Alok Ranjan Verma of the Bahujan Samaj Party, by 1,779 votes. Dayaram Chaudhary, who had won on a BJP ticket in 2017, came third this time.

Kumar told reporters: “I won the block pramukh election a few months ago as a BJP-supported candidate. However, Yadav forced me to join the Samajwadi Party. He came to my house on October 23, 2021, and abducted me. He kept me in his home under strict security.”

“Yadav feared that I would work for the BJP candidate and had the power to influence about 30,000 voters. So he kept me in confinement for five months. He didn’t misbehave with me but restricted my movements to two rooms of his bungalow,” Kumar said.

Yadav denied the allegations and said: “They used to live in my house only. I never restricted their movements. The police are being vindictive because I have won the election.”