Raja Bhaiya steps down

In a major embarrassment to the Akhilesh Yadav regime, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya resigned on Monday after being named in the murder of a Deputy SP rank police officer by a violent mob in Kunda (Pratapgarh district) on Saturday.

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has said that a CBI probe would be ordered into the incident as demanded by the slain officer’s wife. He also announced an ex gratia relief of Rs 25 lakh each for the officer’s wife and father, besides a job for one member of the family. Two persons, known to be close to Raja Bhaiya, have been arrested.

Raja Bhaiya is the MLA from Kunda constituency and has a criminal record. Parveen Azad, wife of the slain police officer Zia-ul-Haq, had named the minister in her complaint to the police alleging that he had been murdered as part of a conspiracy. “If anything happens to me, Raja Bhaiya should be held directly responsible,” she told reporters on Monday.

The police registered a case under 120B IPC (conspiracy) against the minister on Sunday night reportedly after clearance from top echelons of the government. Sources said Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav had himself intervened in the matter and asked Raja Bhaiya to resign.

The Circle Officer (CO), Kunda, Zia-ul-Haq had gone to the Balipur village after the pradhan of the village Nanhe Yadav and his brother Suresh had been murdered on Saturday. Violence and arson had erupted in the village, and the police official was also beaten mercilessly by a mob before being shot dead.

The UP Assembly witnessed an uproar over the matter on Monday as BSP members demanded that Raja Bhaiya be arrested. The opposition furore was such that the House proceedings were stalled repeatedly. Raja Bhaiya tried to explain his position but was heckled and booed by the opposition.

The ex-minister later told reporters that he had become a victim of a conspiracy hatched by his political opponents. He said that he had no enmity with the police officer as he barely knew him. “I had just met him once or twice. He was a nice person and a good official,” he said, adding that even if he had some problem with Haq, “I could have gotten him transferred rather than getting him killed”.

Raja Bhaiya said that he had never complained to anyone in the government about the officer. “I resigned because I don’t want the government to suffer any blame because of me,” he said. Raja Bhaiya also demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter so that the truth would be revealed.

Making a statement in the Assembly, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Azam Khan said the policemen who had deserted Zia-ul-Haq before the mob in the village would be dismissed from service. He read our Parveen’s police complaint and said the guilty would be punished soon.