Raja Bhaiyya, aides booked in DySP killing

Uttar Pradesh Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya was Sunday booked in a case of conspiracy and murder in connection with the gunning down of DySP Ziaul Haque in Balipur village of Pratapgarh district.

Four supporters of the minister were also named in the case, which was lodged on a complaint by the DySP's wife Parveen Azad.

Haque had been circle officer of Kunda, which is Raja Bhaiyya's Assembly constituency.

Azad alleged that the minister's supporters killed her husband on Saturday evening on his instructions. Raja Bhaiyya and his supporters had been threatening her husband and he had told her about it, she said. The family has sought a CBI probe in the case.

Denying the charges, Raja Bhaiyya said: "I will speak in the House Monday about who is defaming our government."

The DySP was killed by a mob when he went to Balipur following the murder of village pradhan Nanhe Lal Yadav, allegedly by Kamta Prasad Pal and three others. The mob also took away Haque's service pistol. While Yadav was a worker of the Samajwadi Party, Pal is said to be a supporter of Raja Bhaiyya.

The pradhan's brother, Suresh Chandra Yadav, was also killed, although the sequence of events is not yet clear.

Besides the minister, those named in the FIR are Gulshan Yadav, who is chairman of the Kunda nagar panchayat, Hari Om Srivastav, Rohit Singh and Guddu Singh.

Incidentally, a second FIR in the murder of Haque was lodged by Station Officer of Hathgawan Manoj Kumar, against eight named and 200 unnamed persons. Sources said there were no common names in the two FIRs.

In addition, two FIRs were lodged in the murder of Yadav brothers. Kamta Prasad Pal, Ajay Kumar Pal, Ajeet Kumar Singh and Rajeev Kumar are named in both cases.

... contd.

ALSO READ

CBI chief says report on coal block 'clean and clear'

Pak High Commissioner to visit Sanaullah today

Janampatri to genomepatri, the leap forward in predicting future

Despite fast-track courts, rape conviction rate still low