THE newly elected Samajwadi Party MLA from Bah,Aridaman Singh,and nine supporters were today booked for the murder of a Dalit village pradhan. The pradhan of Parvati Purva village,Munna Lal,was beaten to death in Agra on Thursday afternoon reportedly for refusing to vote for the SP candidate during the polls. This is the latest in a series of incidents of violence,allegedly by SP men,since the announcement of assembly poll results on March 6. SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today called a meeting of police officers to direct them to check the violence and punish the guilty while chief minister-designate Akhilesh Singh saw a conspiracy to defame the party. Munna Lal,40,was attacked by more than 20 men while sitting at the panchayat ghar. MLA Singh has been booked on the charge of hatching a conspiracy for murder. Munna Lal's nephew Daya Shankar claimed the murder was the fallout of a dispute during Singh's visit to the village seeking votes. He was accompanied by the Thakurs of the village. "The Thakurs asked the pradhan to ensure that the people of his community cast vote in favour of Singh. Munna Lal refused. Aridaman and others threatened to deal with him after the election," said Shankar. Circle officer Siddharth said the postmortem report was awaited.
