New Delhi: For over twenty years, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has mocked the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) for its links with the ‘bahubalis of Bihar’. The pitch of the BJP-Janata Dal (United) alliance against RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in the early 2000s was Bihar’s ‘jungle raj’.
Now, the RJD, in the Opposition in Bihar, is mocking the BJP for inducting ‘bahubali’ Sunil Pandey, a four-time former MLA whose criminal record runs longer than his PhD in Jain dharma and Mahavir.
Sunil Pandey’s 2010 election affidavit mentioned 23 FIRs in cases ranging from a bomb blast in the Arrah court to the murder of Ranvir Sena chief Brahmeshwar Mukhiya, more murders, abductions, and ransom demands.
At a ceremony in the BJP’s Patna office, Bihar BJP chief Dileep Jaiswal welcomed Sunil and his son, Prashant Pandey, into the party fold on Sunday, with the development drawing flak not only from the RJD but also from the BJP cadre. Several posters listing Sunil’s criminal history were plastered outside the walls of the party office — a reminder about the BJP’s “clean politics” promise, seemingly, from within the party ranks.
Speaking to ThePrint, former Union minister Sanjay Paswan voiced these sentiments within the party, saying, “The party should not induct such people with a long criminal record. It may affect the party’s image. The BJP has not come into politics for power. Politics is not only about electoral gains.”
Former Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey told ThePrint, “The party should avoid corrupt people or criminals. People will question the ‘chaal, chintan, chehra’ ideology.”
The Opposition RJD is already taking swipes at the ruling JD(U)-BJP over its claims of maintaining law and order in Bihar. Bihar Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav has attacked the government on rising crime in Bihar, citing murder and loot in recent days to expose. Sunil’s induction is more ammunition to attack the government.
Speaking to ThePrint, a senior leader, on the condition of anonymity, said, “When Nitin Gadkari inducted (BSP’s) Babu Singh Kushwaha, Bahujan Samaj Party taunted the leader, and L.K. Advani asked Gadkari to show Kushwaha the door. He was shown the door the next day. Now, the party does not have such a moral compass. Electoral gain is everything.”
RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari told ThePrint, “The BJP and JD(U) have campaigned against the RJD citing ‘jungle raj’. Now, what has happened with the BJP’s clean politics claims?”
“The Prime Minister, a few days ago, reminded everyone to end corruption in the country. But, the corrupt and criminals become clean after joining the BJP. Criminals are roaming in the state without any fear of law and order,” he said.
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Rise in crime world & headway in politics
Sunil’s father, Kamlesh Pandey, was born in a Bhumihar family in Bihar’s Rohtas in 1966. After studying engineering, he tried his hand at contracting sand mining along Son River.
According to Patna journalists, Kamlesh Pandey, who maintained a Dabangg image, wanted his son to become an engineer. He sent Sunil to study engineering in Bengaluru, where Sunil picked up a fight with a boy and stabbed him to death. Then, he left his studies and returned home.
Back home, Sunil purportedly became friends with Sillu Mian — a resident of Arrah in Bihar’s Bhojpur district and considered close to ‘bahubali’ Shahabuddin — and learned the secrets of the crime world from him. Sunil purportedly became the right-hand man of Sillu, who, in turn, was the right-hand man of Shahbuddin.
However, as time passed, a rift developed in the relationship between Sillu and Sunil, who was ambitious and wanted to rise. Later, Sillu was murdered, with Sunil’s name cropping up as the man behind it. However, due to a lack of evidence, the police did not register a case against Sunil.
Sunil then established a monopoly in the sand mining business in Arrah.
Along with his business, Sunil made headway into politics in 2000 when he secured the Piro Assembly seat in Bihar’s Bhojpur district.
In May 2003, Sunil’s name again made headlines when Ramesh Chandra, a neurosurgeon from Patna, was kidnapped, with a ransom of Rs 50 lakh demanded from his family. Police rescued the doctor from the Naubatpur area, and Sunil faced the courts this time.
On 28 June 2006, Sunil stayed at Hotel Maurya in Patna and checked out but did not pay the bill claiming that the hotel owner had taken Rs 47 lakh from his friend. Questioned about this, Sunil threatened to kill a TV channel journalist on camera.
By then, Sunil was with the JD(U) — he had retained the Piro seat in 2005 as a JD(U) nominee. After his on-camera botch-up, Nitish Kumar expelled Sunil from JD(U) in 2006.
Two years later, Sunil received another blow, a life sentence in the 2008 Dr Ramesh Chandra case. But, he challenged the decision in the Patna High Court, which acquitted him.
Later, JD(U) again gave Sunil a ticket in the 2010 Bihar elections.
It is a coincidence that after the BJP inducted Sunil on Sunday, Bihar Governor Rajendra Arlekar launched a book — Gandhian Statesman of Bihar: Nitish Kumar — written by Nitish Kumar’s cabinet minister Ashok Choudhary, which has details about what happened with Sunil in 2006 after he threatened to murder a journalist.
According to the book, Nitish was so conscious of his image that he told the deputy superintendent of police to immediately register a case against Sunil and put him behind bars. Nitish was aware that it would create problems within JD(U) and asked then-party president Sharad Yadav for support in taking action against Sunil to project Bihar as criminal-free. Sunil started a mutiny against Nitish by poaching MLAs, and the party then ousted him and sent him to jail.
However, years later, Sunil rejoined the JD(U) and eventually quit on his terms before the 2015 Bihar elections. Meanwhile, his footprint in the crime world only grew.
In June 2012, the police arrested Sunil’s driver in the murder case of Ranvir Sena chief Mukhiya and detained Sunil’s brother and then-MLC Hulas Pandey to interrogate him.
Tensions between Sunil and Mukhiya started years ago in January 1997 when Mukhiya was suspected to be behind the murders of three Bhumihars, including a woman, in the Bagar village in Bhojpur’s Tarari block. The deceased woman was purportedly a close relative of Sunil.
On 23 January 2015, two people died in a bomb blast in the Civil Court of Arrah, with two prisoners, Lambu Sharma and Akhilesh Upadhyay, escaping in the melee. Later, in 2015, when Delhi Police found and arrested Lambu, he revealed that Sunil helped him escape from jail, and the police arrested Sunil in the case. During interrogation, Lambu also told the police that Sunil had given him a Rs 50 lakh contract for the murder of Uttar Pradesh gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari.
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Rise in politics & why BJP needs Sunil now
Sunil Pandey’s rise in crime happened in 1990 when the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led RJD governed the state. However, his political journey started in 2000 with Uday Mandal’s Samata Party when he contested the then-Piro assembly seat against RJD candidate Kashinath.
No party got a clear mandate in that election. However, Sunil worked behind the scenes to arrange the support of Independent ‘bahubali’ MLAs who supported Nitish Kumar, from Anant Singh to Munna Shukla and Suraj Bhan Singh, to assume power.
He retained the seat on a JD(U) ticket in the 2005 assembly polls. Despite being ousted from JD(U) in 2006, he again won the seat — renamed to Tarari — in the 2010 assembly polls on a JD(U) ticket.
Speaking to ThePrint, a JD(U) leader, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Nitish always keeps a check on these criminals. Sometimes, he takes their help for electoral gains against Lalu while asking them to maintain law and order. When they create any scenes, he asks the police to take action, whether it is Anant Singh or Sunil Pandey.”
Before the 2015 assembly polls, Sunil switched to the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) as its spokesperson. As an LJP nominee, his wife, Geeta Pandey, lost the Tarari seat in the 2015 assembly polls. In the 2020 assembly polls, Sunil contested the Tarari seat as an Independent but lost.
In 2015 and 2020, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Leninist candidate Sudama Prasad had defeated Geeta and Sunil, respectively, from the Tarari seat.
Sudama Prasad won the Arrah Lok Sabha seat this year, defeating heavyweight BJP leader and former Union power minister R.K. Singh, and subsequently, vacated the Tarari seat.
Tarari is one of the seven assembly constituencies in Arrah. Currently, INDIA holds five of the seven assembly constituencies and the BJP two.
In 2014 and 2019, Arrah gave the mandate to the BJP. However, the BJP lost the seat in 2024 despite R.K. Singh’s development projects and is now on a mission to win the vacated Tarari assembly seat.
Arrah, which has a significant upper-caste population, including Bhumihars and Rajputs, has a history of violence between Bihar-based, upper caste militia Ranvir Sena and the CPI(M)L.
The BJP won the Arrah seat for the first time in 2014 when R.K. Singh defeated RJD’s Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha by more than one lakh votes. He retained the seat in 2019 when he defeated CPI(M)L’s Raju Yadav.
However, the CPI-ML, which has had a strong base in Arrah since 1950, trounced him in 2024.
Explaining why the BJP is banking on Sunil Pandey with an eye on the Tarari by-elections, a BJP leader told ThePrint on the condition of anonymity, “In Arrah, two seats are with the BJP and five with INDIA. Sunil Pandey has clout in Arrah and Tarari as he represented Tarari four times. In 2015, when his wife contested Tarari, she lost by only 276 votes. In 2020, Pandey was placed second to Sudama Prasad, while the BJP candidate was in third position. In politics, only electoral gains matter.”
Another BJP leader told ThePrint that Jitan Ram Manjhi, now Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises of India, has vacated the Imamganj seat, which his party will contest, and JD(U) will contest the Belaganj seat, which RJD strongman Surendra Yadav vacated to go to the Lok Sabha.
Meanwhile, the BJP will contest the Tarari seat that Sudama Prasad vacated and the Ramgarh seat that RJD’s Sudhakar Singh vacated. “The BJP does not want to lose momentum by risking any seats in the bypolls — victory on these seats will create momentum for the 2025 assembly elections,” said the leader.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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