Union Minister Ashwini Chaubey’s son Arijit Shashwat surrendered in Bihar’s Bhagalpur in connection with the violence on March 31, but added that the case against him was “fake”.

Earlier in the day, a Bhagalpur court rejected the anticipatory bail plea of 38-year-old Shashwat. The court pronounced a one-line order that Shashwat’s plea is rejected, media reports quoted his lawyer Viresh Kumar Mishra as saying.

Shashwat had moved the court after an arrest warrant was issued against him a week earlier for inciting communal violence in Bhagalpur, reported PTI.

The arrest warrant was issued against Shashwat and eight others after they were named in an FIR filed at Nathnagar police station of Bhagalpur in connection with the clashes that broke out between members of two communities on 17 March, the report said.

Shashwat had unsuccessfully contested 2015 Assembly polls from Bhagalpur town on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket but lost to Congress’s Ajit Sharma.

Heavy stone-pelting and even exchange of fire was witnessed during the violence in which several persons, including two policemen, were injured.

The clashes had followed a skirmish between residents of Nathnagar and those participating in a procession, taken out on ‘New Year’ as per the Hindu calendar. The procession was led by the BJP minister’s son.

The locals had objected to playing of loud music during the procession. The violence was also the first in a series of minor communal riots witnessed in several districts of the state.

Communal passions have peaked in Aurangabad, Nalanda, Samastipur, Sheikhpura and Nawada districts following the Ram Navami festivities, media reports said.

The Opposition has criticised the Nitish Kumar government as the administration has failed to arrest Shashwat.