Raja Bhaiya quits, Akhilesh Yadav says CBI will probe, but no action yet

A day after he was booked for the murder of DySP Ziaul Haque, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Raja Bhaiya resigned from the Akhilesh Yadav government on Monday.

The chief minister, meanwhile, rushed to Haque's village in Deoria, and assured his wife, Parveen Azad, that the government would recommend a CBI probe into the case. The grieving family then proceeded with the burial.

Although Haque's body reached the village last night, Azad, a BDS student at a private medical college in Lucknow, had refused to allow the burial. "I will commit suicide if the CM does not come here and assure a CBI inquiry," she had said.

"Those guilty will not be spared, irrespective of their stature. We will recommend a CBI probe," said Akhilesh, whose cavalcade was stopped by angry villagers during his visit today.

Accompanied by Minorities Affairs minister Azam Khan, Akhilesh gave two cheques for Rs 25 lakh each to Azad and Haque's father, Shamsul Haque. He also promised jobs for Azad and Haque's younger brother Sohrab.

Haque, who was circle officer of Kunda, which is Raja Bhaiya's Assembly constituency, was gunned down in Balipur village, in Pratapgarh district, on Saturday evening. The police officer had gone there following the murder of village pradhan Nanhe Lal Yadav in a land dispute.

Raja Bhaiya and four of his supporters were named as accused, following an FIR filed by Haque's wife. Stating that her husband never visited "Raja Bhaiya's darbar", Azad said Haque was killed in a planned manner. "First they shot him in the legs so that he could not run. His skull was smashed with rods. He was then shot in the chest to kill him," she claimed.

Meanwhile, in his statement in the Assembly soon after tendering his resignation today, Raja Bhaiya denied charges of his involvement and demanded a CBI probe into the matter.

... contd.

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