Dayashankar Singh was arrested by Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) team with the help of the district police from a house in Chinni Mill locality, Superintendent of Police Upendra Kumar Sharma said. Buxar is about 100 km from Patna on the border of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Singh had gone underground after an FIR was registered against him on July 20 by UP police on a complaint by BSP leader Mewalal Gautam, alleging that Singh’s remarks hurt the feelings of BSP workers and the Dalit community across the country.
The arrest comes a day after Singh failed to get a stay from Allahabad High Court which directed the UP government to file its reply by August 5 on his plea challenging the lodging of the FIR against him.
The remarks by Singh, former UP Vice President of BJP, had stoked a major controversy with BJP expelling him from the party.
A photograph of Dayashankar Singh at a temple in Deogarh in Jharkhand had gone viral on social media and was also published in newspapers, triggering angry reaction from Mayawati against BJP which is in power in Jharkhand. Dayashankar Singh hails from Ballia in eastern Uttar Pradesh.
He is a Thakur and even though the caste accounts for only 7.6 per cent of the population, they wield enormous influence.
In a show of strength BSP staged a massive dharna at Hazratganj on July 21 and has been demanding Singh’s arrest terming BJP as “anti-Dalit”.