Jaitley warns of stir against MLA’s arrest

Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley met arrested BJP MLA Rajendra Singh Rathore,accused in the Dara Singh fake encounter case,on Monday in Jaipur Central Jail. Jaitley,who also met senior state BJP leaders,slammed the CBI’s chargesheet against Rathore and termed the agency as a tool for the Congress.

“I am a student of law. I have read the CBI chargesheet against him. There is nothing substantial against him. I have no difficulty in believing that there is no rule of law in this country if the CBI can arrest a person based on this chargesheet,” Jaitley said while addressing party workers in the state BJP headquarters here. He added that it was a matter of disgrace to the nation that a citizen could be arrested thus.

Jaitley did not rule out the possibility of a national-level agitation against Rathore.

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“If it comes to that we will support him,but for now it is being done at the state-level,” he said. He added that the BJP believed in the rule of law and if Rathore had committed something wrong he would be punished for it,but if Rathore was arrested for simply being in the BJP,the party would protest against it.

Meanwhile,a court extended Rathore’s judicial custody on Monday and reserved its ruling on taking cognisance of the chargesheet against him till April 24.