Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan met ABVP member Tomar, accused of murdering prof Sabharwal, at an Indore hospital.
Chauhan met ABVP member Tomar, accused of murdering prof Sabharwal, at an Indore hospital
NEW DELHI: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has kicked up another row by visiting an accused in the Prof HS Sabharwal murder case, Vimal Tomar, in a hospital on Wednesday. Tomar is an ABVP member, an RSS affiliate.
The BJP’s central leadership is unhappy with Chauhan’s “immaturity”, yet defended him. Party spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudi maintained Chauhan visited the government-run MY Hospital in Indore for a surprise inspection. To substantiate his point, he claimed some hospital employees had been suspended for dereliction of duty. Tomar was one of the many patients Chauhan met, Rudi said.
The chief minister, however, did not see anything wrong with the visit. “Yes, I also met him (Tomar). I met many patients and I met Vimalji also,” Chauhan said.
The Madhya Pradesh chief minister was earlier advised caution on the issue. He was asked not to defend the ABVP member’s role in the case. Tomar was caught on camera threatening the professor at Ujjain’s Madhav College before he died in September 2006 after being allegedly attacked by students protesting the cancellation of a college union poll.
Tomar was shifted to the hospital from Ujjain’s central jail following complaints of chest pain nearly a week ago.
The Supreme Court had earlier questioned the fairness of the trial and suspended it. On Friday, the court will take up a petition seeking to move the case out of Madhya Pradesh.
Chauhan is already under fire from the opposition Congress on purchase of dumpers in his wife’s name and leasing them to an industrial house. There are also rumblings within the party over the issue but for the moment, the party leadership has chosen to ignore them. The loss of two bypolls last month has only added to Chauhan’s woes.
s_singh@dnaindia.net
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