Dhullu Mahto, the incarcerated BJP MLA from Baghmara, was taken today to Ranchi on Friday to cast his vote in the Rajya Sabha elections.

The police team, accompanied by jail officials, reached Dhanbad divisional jail at around 6.30 am to escort Mahto to Ranchi, where he cast his ballot. He was later returned to Dhanbad in the evening.

The Jharkhand high court instructed the state government on Thursday to ensure Mahto’s presence in Ranchi on time to vote in the Rajya Sabha election. The court order was issued on an intervention petition filed by him, after being denied provisional bail on June 15 by a lower court of Sub-divisional judicial magistrate Shikha agarwal in Dhanbad.

Mahto surrendered in court on May 11 in connection with a case lodged by Baghmara resident Doman Mahto, his neighbour, on February 14 in Barora Police station against him and his elder brother Sarad Mahto and others. They have been accused of beating Sarad, and his family members, and trying to kill him by flashing a pistol. Sarad was trying to establish a shop along with his father Kanhai Mahto near the Ramraj temple at Chitahi Village of Baghmara on April 29, 2019 on his own land.

The police lodged an FIR on basis of the complaint on February 15 and subsequently issued an arrest warrant on February 18. Police raided Mahto’s house in the wee hours of February 19, and couldn't arrest him.

A total of 33 cases have been filed against Mahto. He has secured bail in majority of these cases, which include one filed by Rajiv Kumar Srivastava, nephew of former mines minister OP Lal, on March 2 in Barora Police station, under different sections of the IPC, including 147 (rioting).

Mahto is still awaiting bail in connection with a rape case lodged by a former president of the women’s wing of the BJP’s Katras unit, named Kamla Devi.