Dhanbad: Dhanbad police have booked Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Dhullu Mahto and 11 of his aides in connection with assaulting a woman after her husband appeared as a court witness in a previous case against Mahto.
Based on a complaint by the woman, police have brought serious charges against Mahto and his aides under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita — criminal intimidation, assault and use of criminal force on a woman, and voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons, among others.
The newly elected MP from Dhanbad already has several cases against him, with charges ranging from assault on government employees, disturbing peace, and attempt to murder.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren has asked the police and administration to take strict action on this incident, which has drawn fire from Jharkhand’s political and social circles in the backdrop of Mahto’s criminal history.
The victim, Neera Devi, a resident of Chitahi Basti in the Tundi mouja of the Baghmara assembly constituency, lodged the complaint at the Barora police station on 12 July.
Dhullu Mahto, a three-time MLA from Baghmara, is also a resident of Chitahi Basti.
Devi was allegedly injured in an attack by Mahto’s aides and is now under treatment at Shaheed Nirmal Mahto Medical College (SNMMC) Dhanbad.
Devi has said that on 11 July, Doman Mahto, her husband, testified against the BJP MP as a witness in court in connection with a case registered against Dhullu Mahto on 14 February 2020. The same day, Dhullu Mahto allegedly sent his aides to their field when her husband was away.
The aides, armed with sticks and weapons, ruined their crops using a JCB, Devi has alleged. When Devi protested, they allegedly assaulted her and several women in her family, with what appeared to be an intention to kill them. The men allegedly dragged the women by their hair and tore off their clothes.
Devi has alleged that during the assault, Dhullu Mahto’s aides kept saying that when her husband was not asked to testify against the MP, “why did he go to the court”. They also asked whether the family has become such big landlords that they are filing a case against the MP.
Devi has said that Dhullu Mahto visited the Ramraj temple in Chitahi Basti on 11 July. At the time, she, along with her daughter, was plucking out the lady’s fingers from their field behind the guesthouse of the temple. The BJP leader looked at them angrily before leaving, and shortly after, his supporters reached the field and started destroying the crops.
Devi has also claimed that attempts to capture their land near the Ramraj temple and other assault incidents had taken place earlier as well.
Dhullu Mahto won the Lok Sabha election from Dhanbad this year, defeating Congress candidate Anupama Singh. The BJP leadership had replaced three-time sitting MP Pashupati Nath Singh with Mahto.
According to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Dhullu Mahto has faced more than five dozen charges under the Indian Penal Code. Two courts of Dhanbad have sentenced him to one year imprisonment each in two criminal cases and 20 more criminal cases are still pending, according to the ADR report based on information shared by Mahto at the time of nomination in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Dhullu Mahto has often said that he works in the interests of the poor and labourers, and hence, there is an ongoing conspiracy against him.
The Print contacted MP Dhullu Mahto over a call, but he refused to comment.
BJP leader Amar Kumar Bauri said, “Dhullu Mahto has been implicated in cases at the behest of the state government and due to political malice — Dhullu Mahto raised this issue in the state assembly when he was an MLA.”
Despite political conspiracies against him during the Lok Sabha election, Dhullu Mahto won by a huge margin because people like him, Bauri told The Print.
Demand for action and SIT probe
Over the years, Dhullu Mahto has had 50 FIRs registered against him.
Even during the Lok Sabha election, the political circle was boiling over Mahto’s controversial image, but it did not deter the BJP from fielding him from Dhanbad.
As earlier, the BJP has again defended their leader in the latest case.
However, Saryu Roy, a minister in the erstwhile Raghubar Das-led BJP government and now Independent MLA from the Jamshedpur East Assembly constituency, in a post on X, has questioned whether the BJP will provide justice to the victim’s family and curb the violent acts of the MP.
On 14 July, Saryu Rai reached SNMMC to meet the victim and her family. Later, he told the media that the government should form a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate this incident.
“FIR was lodged on the instructions of the chief minister, but the police are not taking proper action in this serious case. The victim’s family is in a panic. Sadly, BJP people also defend their MP,” Roy said on 15 July, speaking to ThePrint.
On the other hand, Jharkhand state Congress working president Jaleshwar Mahato, leader Anupama Singh, and many social workers have also met the victim’s family and demanded strict action in this matter.
Dhanbad SSP H.P. Janardhan said the FIR was registered based on the statement of Neera Devi, and the police have been instructed to investigate the case.
“There are reports of a dispute over the land. Whatever facts emerge during the investigation, the police will take action accordingly. No one will be allowed to take the law into their own hands. The safety of the woman and her family is being taken care of. Police patrolling has been asked to be increased in those areas,” the SSP told ThePrint.
Also read: ‘Reason to believe not guilty’ — What Jharkhand HC said while granting bail to Hemant Soren
Fear, terror and a counter case
Speaking to ThePrint on Sunday, Doman Mahto, the husband of Neera Devi, said, “This is the height of fear and panic. After getting information about the assault and the dozing on the field on 11 July, I rang my wife’s mobile phone, but there was no response. After that, when I reached Chitahi Basti, I learned that the injured had been taken to the hospital.”
“I rushed to the hospital. There, my daughter informed me about the entire incident and said that they (Dhullu Mahto’s aides) snatched their mobile phone, broke it and took it with them,” he added.
Doman Mahto further said that he has been in the hospital with his daughter for four days since the attack. “Will have to face further hardships too,” he said.
Barora police station in-charge Vikas Kumar has said that the investigation is going on under sections of the BNS — criminal intimidation, assault or use of criminal force on a woman with intent to disrobe her, criminal trespass, unlawful assembly, voluntarily causing grievous hurt, voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons, and wrongful confinement.
The police are also trying to identify a dozen people involved in the attack, he added.
Doman Mahto’s daughter Kali Kumari, her voice choking, said that they could not sleep for days after the attack. She narrated how the women ran away to save their lives and reached the hospital, adding that her mother received serious wounds on her hand, which needed a dozen stitches.
“Despite the torture and assault, a case has now been filed against my family,” she told ThePrint on Sunday.
According to the Barora police, they have filed an FIR against Doman Mahto, Neera Devi, one Sohan Mahto, and three other persons based on a written complaint by Kedunadih Basti resident Pooja Devi, the wife of Nagina Bhuian.
Pooja Devi has alleged that on 11 July, Doman Mahto and his family members came in front of her shop near Ramraj temple and started beating her and using casteist words against her.
Police said they have started an investigation in this case as well.
“If you open your mouth against Dhullu Mahto or oppose the misdeeds of his supporters, it is difficult. If you help any tortured family, it is more difficult. For four days, many families have been living under the shadow of fear,” a Chitahi Basti resident told ThePrint on Sunday.
Also read: Friction in Jharkhand BJP ahead of state polls as Sita Soren blames party leaders for Lok Sabha loss
Chitahi Basti, Ramraj temple and mafia
Mahto built the grand Ramraj temple on a big plot in the Chitahi Basti.
Doman Mahto claimed that Dhullu Mahto now wants to construct a marriage hall and a marketing complex in the Basti and has been trying to acquire land for them.
In February-March, many tenants and their family members, including 20-year-old Suniti Mahto, staged a sit-in at Randhir Verma Chowk in Dhanbad against atrocities to capture their land.
Despite this, Dhullu Mahto continues to claim that he is a mashiha (messiah) of coal workers and the poor, Saryu Roy told ThePrint.
On the other hand, political analyst Deepak Ambastha told ThePrint, “If we look at the cases filed against Dhullu Mahto, it seems that he is synonymous with all these crimes. Dhanbad is also aware of this and of his face.”
“But, the BJP defends Dhullu Mahto at every opportunity and dispute. When Dhullu was an MLA, 50 cases were registered against him. Now, he has become an MP. So, this can be seen as the beginning of his new feats,” he added.
The BJP had fielded Mahto from Dhanbad despite questions over his candidature ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
In a letter to BJP state chief Babulal Marandi on 28 March, Dhanbad Marwari Sammelan district president Krishna Agarwal urged the party to reconsider its Dhanbad candidate, saying, “While speaking against the mafia, he has himself become a version of the mafia.”
Saryu Rai was also protesting against Mahto from back during the elections.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
Also read: Babulal Marandi losing hold among tribals? Jharkhand BJP chief faces state poll test after LS losses