Obstructing govt work case: Court rejects bail plea of Rajasthan Cong leader Amin Pathan

A court here on Monday rejected the bail application of Congress leader Amin Pathan, who is accused of obstructing a government team from marking his farmhouse as an encroachment on forest land.

A court here on Monday rejected the bail application of Congress leader Amin Pathan, who is accused of obstructing a government team from marking his farmhouse as an encroachment on forest land. Pathan, a general secretary in the party's Rajasthan unit, was arrested on Sunday, a day after the incident in Kota district's Anandpura village. His bail application was rejected by a magistrate's court, Circle Inspector (CI) at the Anantpura police station, Bhupendra Singh, said. Following his arrest, Pathan was produced at a residential court on Sunday evening that sent him to 14-day judicial custody.

Pathan's counsel Harish Sharma on Monday filed another bail application in the higher district and sessions court after rejection by the magistrate's court.

The district and sessions court will hear the matter on Tuesday, Sharma said. Some Congress workers demonstrated on the Commerce College Road Circle on Monday against Pathan's arrest. They raised slogans against the BJP and the Chief Minister Bhanjanlal Sharma-led state government. The Congress workers termed the police action against Pathan as politically motivated.

Shops in the village were also closed in the day in view of a bandh call in the area. Pathan, after being in the BJP for 25 years, had joined the Congress in November last year.

The Congress leader has been booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 332 (causing hurt to public servant) and 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharging duty), according to police.

His wife Raziya and more than a dozen others are also accused in the case, they had said.

On Saturday afternoon, a forest team along with revenue department and urban improvement trust personnel had visited the village for land measurement on basis of a report that Pathan's farmhouse and other structures were built on forest land illegally, CI Singh had said. While the team was marking the farmhouse's area on forest land as encroachment, Pathan, his wife and 10 to 15 others allegedly came out of the farmhouse, misbehaved with officials, used criminal force and obstructed government work, he had said.

Singh on Monday said that investigation against the other accused is underway. The Kota police in a statement said Pathan is named in 18 other cases, including murder, attempt to murder and extortion, lodged in various police stations.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)