Yashwant Sinha in jail, BJP continues protest in Hazaribagh

HAZARIBAGH: The protest over electricity crisis by the BJP here entered the third day even as senior party leader Yashwant Sinha and others did not apply for bail today after they were arrested and remanded to judicial custody in connection with alleged assault of an electricity board official.

Continuing the stir in the campus of the Jharkhand State Electricity Board's (JSEB) Hazaribagh branch office in the town, BJP workers locked the office this morning to prevent officials and employees from discharging their duties, police said.

Police broke open the lock in the presence of Hazaribagh (Sadar) Block Development Officer Pyarelal, they said.

Another group of party workers put up blockades on Zilla Parishad road and Barhi road, disrupting traffic for about an hour on NH-2 and NH-3, they said.

"We will continue our agitation till our demand is met," a BJP worker said.

Meanwhile, former External Affairs minister Yashwant Sinha and his followers did not apply for bail even today following their arrest and subsequent judicial remand for the alleged assault of the JSEB's Hazaribagh unit General Manager, Dhanesh Jha.

Jha had filed an FIR against Sinha and others, accusing them of tying him up during a demonstration by the BJP's district unit on Monday leading to their arrest.

After Sinha and others refused to take bail, the Chief Judicial Magistrate R B Pal had remanded them to 14-days judicial custody yesterday.