July 20: The Supreme Court today directed the Bihar government to immediately shift controversial politician and former Purnea MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav from Patna Medical College and Hospital to Beur jail.

A bench comprising Justices . Santosh Hegde, S.B. Sinha and S.H. Kapadia also directed the medical superintendent of the hospital to explain why Yadav was kept in the ICU though he suffered no ailment.

Elsewhere, even as controversial RJD parliamentarian from Siwan Mohammad Shahabuddin was today shifted to the local jail from hospital following a Patna High Court order, a police team sent to Delhi to arrest Lok Janshakti Party MP Suraj Bhan Singh returned without the politician.

Yadav was arrested in connection with the Ajit Sarkar murder case and the apex court also found him roaming freely in Madhepura during the Lok Sabha elections.

The CBI, probing the matter, submitted its report and the court found that despite vacancy in the prisoners’ ward, the Bihar government constituted a medical board to examine Yadav and recommended that he be admitted in the general ward of the hospital.

The CBI report also stated that Yadav, along with his escorts, occupied two rooms in the ICU when the diagnosis of his illness by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences was “morbid obesity with hypertension”. The bench also directed the sessions judge of Madhepura to find out if there was a legal necessity for the trial court to seek his presence in a case on May 3. The court asked both, the hospital superintendent and the sessions judge, to reply within two weeks.

The Patna police team, which stayed in Delhi for more than a week, returned empty-handed. However, it pasted a notice outside the room of the plush hotel where Suraj Bhan had reportedly put up.

The high court took strong objection to Siwan fast-track court judge A.P. Shrivastava granting permission to Shahabuddin to attend Parliament and ordered the removal of the judicial officer. Shrivastava is also believed to have sent in his resignation to the superior court.

Suraj Bhan continued to evade the police and sources close to him said he was planning to mover another bail petition, failing which the politician would surrender. The high court has referred Suraj Bhan’s case to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. The sources also pointed out that the MP could take up the matter with the Speaker in case he was denied bail.

Suraj Bhan contested the Lok Sabha election even though warrants of arrest were issued against him in connection with the murder of local politician Umesh Yadav.

The MP, who was in jail when the crime took place, was charged with conspiracy under Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code.

His opponent from the CPI, Shatrughan Prasad, later filed a PIL in Patna High Court, which requested that he be taken into custody.