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How Bindi Yadav, the rock behind Rocky, milked Bihar's Jungle Raj

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Ashok Upadhyay
Ashok UpadhyayMay 11, 2016 | 09:14

How Bindi Yadav, the rock behind Rocky, milked Bihar's Jungle Raj

Rocky Yadav, the prime accused in the Aditya Sachdeva murder case  in Gaya, Bihar, is son of JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi and businessman Bindeshwari Prasad Yadav, alias Bindi Yadav.

The powerhouse of the Yadav family is Rocky's father - Bindi Yadav. It is not that Bindi did not try his luck at winning for himself a political seat: twice he fought elections at the assembly level and twice he failed miserably. Once he fought as an independent and the second time as an RJD candidate; but he had to remain satisfied in being called an MLC's husband.

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Bindi Yadav (R).

Bindi's wife is a member of Bihar's Legislative Council, having won on a Nitish Kumar-led JDU ticket. But make no mistake over where the power lies exactly because it is her husband's musclemen that's the real source of Manorama Devi's power and so-called prestige.

Returning to Bindi: his is a typical rags-to-riches story. Reports say he was once caught trying to steal a bicycle. But that was in another time, another day; today he owns malls, hotels, some 15 petrol pumps in Gaya, Bodh Gaya, Delhi and its surrounding areas. His business interests are in as diverse sectors as road and construction, real estate and liquor.

Bindi is a man rolling in money, one might say and so it is no surprise that son Rocky Yadav was driving around in a silver-coloured Land Rover that has an on-ride price of about 1.5 crore rupees. The SUV had, of course, been bought by Bindi recently and then the pistol, allegedly used by Rocky to kill Aditya, is a .32 bore Italian-made killing machine that comes with a price tag of Rs 10 lakh.

The question is: how did a bicycle thief become such a successful capitalist? How did Bindi come by so much money? Were successive rulers of Bihar unaware of the nature of his misdeeds?

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It is said that during the dreaded "Jungle Raj" of Lalu-Rabri in Bihar, crime was the only industry that flourished. Bindi Yadav, from same caste as the then "first family" of the state, unleashed a reign of terror in Gaya and its surrounding areas. He became one of the most-feared criminal-turned-politicians of the nineties.

He was part of a band that included dreaded names such as Rajendra Yadav (a three-term MLA now serving life imprisonment for murder), Surendra Yadav (a five-term legislator charged with abduction and illegal confinement) and Maheshwar Yadav (a three-term MLA before he quit politics and started educational institutions).

In 2010, Bindi contested Gurua assembly constituency on an RJD ticket. In his affidavit, he declared 18 criminal cases in which cognition has been taken against him.

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Criminal cases against Bindi Yadav.

Latest reports say that there are 19 cases still lodged against him in different police stations across Bihar. They range from attempt to murder, dacoity, looting, intimidation, extortion and providing arms to Maoists. He is accused of having grabbed, with impunity, prime property in Gaya.

In 2011, when Bindi Yadav was arrested, he was found to be in the possession of an AK-47 rifle as well as another self-loading rifle and 4,150 cartridges.

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But soon after this incident Bindi seems to have changed tacks in 2011. He became a contractor and secured a slew of government contracts. According to police sources, he has close ties with the Maoists of the region. This helped him in grabbing all the developmental contracts for construction in extremist affected areas. His proximity to several RJD and JDU leaders also helped him in securing the contracts from the government.

Bindi was issued a firearms licence by the government in 1991 when he did not have any criminal case against him. But the number of cases against him went up to 19 and yet he was allowed to retain his gun licence. The state government is supposed to review arms licences ahead of every Assembly and parliamentary election. Four such elections were held under Nitish Kumar yet, no action was taken about Bindi's arms licence.

Interestingly his MLC wife, Manorama Devi, has three arms licences to her name - one for a rifle, one for a revolver and third one for a double-barreled gun.

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Aditya Sachdeva.

Bindeshwari Prasad Yadav, aka Bindi Yadav, seems to be the classic case of how political patronage is leveraged by a criminal to manipulate government contracts and how in the process he gains respectability as a legitimate businessman.

Entering politics was but the next logical step for Bindi but if Nitish Kumar thinks that he can deliver Susan in Bihar with the help of politicians like Bindi Yadav, and based on such dubious support aspires to becoming the prime minister of India in 2019, than he certainly is wasting his time and energy in dreaming pipe dreams.

Last updated: May 11, 2016 | 09:14
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