Chitrakoot: 2 SP MLAs booked after elderly widow’s house demolished

Veer Singh, son of slain dacoit Shiv Kumar Patel alias Dadua, denied his involvement and accused the local police of being in collusion with land sharks who are trying to usurp the land by putting the elderly woman (identified as Lakshmi Devi) in the front.

Ram Singh is the son of Dadua’s brother and former Mirzapur MP Bal Kumar Patel.

The complaint against the two MLAs was lodged by Lakshmi Devi, wife of late Ram Narayan Gupta, a resident of Bankat village. She has alleged that the two MLAs arrived in the village with armed men on July 6 and using a JCB bulldozer, demolished the one-room structure which she had got constructed on her own. The woman later approached the Chitrakoot Superintendent of Police, Pawan Kumar, and got an FIR registered against them.

“The presence of the two MLAs has not yet been established. By the time the police reached the spot, the structure had been demolished and nobody was there. We are probing the matter,” Kumar said.

The police quoted the woman who claims to have been living on the land (belonging to one Raj Narayan Patel) for over three decades. According to the woman, Patel’s father had allowed her to continue living in the shanty all these years but his son began making claims on the land after his death. Later, the woman got a one-room structure constructed there, erecting a tea shop. Her son, a labourer, works in another state.

“She does not have any documentary proof to show that she had any kind of right to construct on that land. However, those who were involved in the demolition had no business taking law into their own hands and should have sought help from the administration,” Kumar said.

The SP added that the possibility of some interested persons trying to take over the land by propping up the widow cannot be completely ruled out. “The woman does not have the wherewithal to construct the room. We are also probing who gave her the money,” said Kumar.

Talking to The Indian Express over phone, Veer Singh said: “I have nothing to do with either Raj Narayan or his land. He came to me seeking help as his land was being usurped. I got in touch with the SDM and other officials. They had given a stay. Still, the new structure got constructed. I have complained to the local police as such a thing could not happen without their collusion. Land sharks are propping up the widow as a shield against us to capture the land.”

Asked whether it was proper on the part of Raj Narayan to get the structure demolished, he said: “When a man does not get any help from the police and administration, can he sit quietly and allow his land to be grabbed? He will do anything to get it back.”

The MLA, however, claimed that he was not present at the spot. “Even Ram Singh is abroad and Dr Sudhir, our cousin who has also been named in the FIR, was on duty all along,” he claimed. During a press conference in Chitrakoot, the MLA told mediapersons that he would take the matter to the Chief Minister, if need be.