Dummy in bed, Pappu on the run

The documents, the CBI believes, will prove that for over two of the four years that Yadav was to spend in Beur Jail — as one of the five accused in the murder of ex-CPI(M) MLA Ajit Sarkar — he was feigning illness at AIIMS. And, spending only the nights at the hospital.

The CBI has been directed by the Supreme Court to file a report on Yadav’s movements within a week, after it took note of Yadav’s sudden appearance in Madhepura during the recent election campaign.

The CBI has already filed a series of complaints at the trial court in Patna on Yadav’s ‘‘manipulation’’ of the system.

In a 2002 report, the agency noted how Yadav would drive out of AIIMS in a Tata Sumo around 10 am every day and return to his bed past midnight. Through the day, his hospital bed would be occupied by one of his aides.

Yadav was ‘‘referred’’ to the AIIMS by the Patna court following a medical board recommendation that he be treated for various ailments such as hypertension, backache and even a foot injury.

While in AIIMS, the then MP repeatedly petitioned the court to be allowed to attend Parliament, but it was turned down.

In 2003, Yadav managed to get bail, which strangely was not opposed by CBI. The bail was finally cancelled when the Supreme Court stepped after Sarkar’s brother challenged the move.

The CBI’s case record shows that along with Pappu Yadav, another accused, former MLA Rajan Tiwari, was working the system similarly. Tiwari had got himself ‘‘referred’’ by a medical board to the Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi but CBI investigations showed that he never actually stayed there.

He went missing, along with his police escort. On November 15, 2002, DSP Mohammad Hussnain even lodged a complaint with the Sarojini Nagar Police Station about his missing men.