The Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled the bail granted to former Jharkhand minister Yogendra Sao in 18 criminal cases against him and his wife Nirmala Devi, PTI reported. Sao, a Congress leader, was a minister in the Hemant Soren government in 2013-’14.

The cases filed against Sao and Devi include allegations of rioting and instigating violence. A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice SA Bobde and comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Indira Banerjee said that Sao had breached the bail conditions imposed in December 2017 through his “unauthorised presence” in Jharkhand. Sao had been ordered to stay in Bhopal.

The bench transferred the trial against Sao and Devi from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand to Ranchi. However, it rejected the state government’s plea to cancel Devi’s bail also, while refusing her request to stay in Patna instead of Bhopal.

One of the cases against Sao and Devi relates to violent clashes between villagers and police in 2016 in Hazaribagh’s Barkagaon area. At least four people were killed in the clashes.