Baghmara’s BJP MLA Dhullu Mahto, who is on the run to avoid arrest in a February 14 case of rioting and attempt-to-murder filed with Barora police, on Monday failed to get reprieve from court.

The court of principal district and sessions judge Basant Kumar Goswami, on hearing Dhullu’s anticipatory bail plea, transferred the case to the court of additional district and sessions judge III Rajiv Kumar Sinha. The lower court will hear the case on Tuesday.

Sinha’s court is also scheduled to hear the anticipatory bail application of Mahto in another case of rape and outraging the modesty of a woman lodged against him on November 23, 2018, by a former member of the Katras unit of the women’s wing of the BJP.

The February 14 case was lodged by Doman Mahto of Chitahi village where Dhullu is the most powerful resident. A Dhanbad police team went to Dhullu’s house in same case on February 19 but failed to arrest him as he had fled by then.

The MLA who continues to be elusive however was granted bail by Goswami’s court on February 20 in an old case of rioting and assault lodged by coal trader Jagdish Kumar Rai against 56 people, including Dhullu and his elder brother Sharad Mahto.

Dhullu’s lawyer Jitendra Rai told the media that on Monday, the court of Goswami which heard Dhullu’s anticipatory bail application in the February 14 case, transferred the case to Sinha.

Asked about the status of other cases against the MLA, the lawyer said he was not aware about all the cases. “But many of cases are cropping up after the change of guard in Jharkhand. Everyone understands the reason,” the lawyer said, implying political vendetta.

On October 19, 2019, Dhullu was awarded 18 months imprisonment by the court of subdivisional judicial magistrate Shikha Agarwal in connection with the charges of obstruction in government work and forcefully releasing his supporter Dharmendra Gupta from police custody on May 12, 2013. The court however had granted bail to Dhullu in the case. Earlier, Dhullu had also served a jail term of 11 months in same case from July 9, 2013 to June 23, 2014.