The Jharkhand Police arrested Bramhanand Netam, the BJP’s candidate in Chhattisgarh’s Bhanupratappur bypoll, from south Chhattisgarh’s Kanker, only to release him in minutes. The police went in to proceed legally on the rape case in which Netam is an accused along with others.

“Brahmanand Netam has been taken into custody by the Jharkhand Police. However, he informed about the stay on arrest by the Jharkhand High Court. The police have sought a High Court order from him and are taking him to the police station. If he provides the court papers, he will be released,” the Kanker Police said.

Netam was released after he produced the court papers.

Last week, the police team went to Naresh Soni’s home, a co-accused in the case, to arrest him. However, he was found to be missing. This came days after Chhattisgarh Congress president Mohan Markam filed an official complaint against him to the state election commission, seeking to disqualify his nomination as he failed to mention the alleged FIR in the rape case in his affidavit.

According to Markam, Netam had allegedly raped a 15-year-old girl in Jharkhand and a case was lodged under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act in Jharkhand.

The incident took place in 2019, where five accused, including the BJP candidate, were named in the chargesheet.

Brahmanand Netam has refuted all the claims made by the Congress leader. The Chhattisgarh BJP unit has retaliated and demanded the arrest of Markam for disclosing the identity of the survivor.

The Bhanupratappur seat fell vacant after the death of Congress MLA Manoj Mandavi.