Bihar BJP MLA faces extortion charges in FIR

In yet another embarrassment to the Nitish Kumar Government, a company running stone quarry for road construction in Lakhisarai district has lodged an FIR

In yet another embarrassment to the Nitish Kumar Government, a company running stone quarry for road construction in Lakhisarai district has lodged an FIR against BJP MLA Prem Ranjan Patel and charged him with demanding extortion money.

In the FIR lodged in the Suryagarha police station, the company —IDO Construction and Industries Ltd —has alleged that the local MLA first demanded a hefty amount as “protection money” and when the company refused to pay his men, forcibly stopped the trucks carrying stone chips.

Lakhisarai SP R Mallar Viji confirmed the registration of the FIR but said action would be taken only after a thorough investigation. The FIR lodged by engineer Manoj Kumar Chowdhury of the company names eight accomplices of the MLA. Earlier, two other JD(U) MLAs had been accused of similar charges. One of them, Sunil Pandey, who is a JD(U) MLA from Piro in Bhojpur district, is already in jail.

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Pandey was charged with demanding extortion money from a south Indian company engaged in rural electrification. Recently, state BJP president Radha Mohan Singh was charged with forcibly capturing the land of marginal farmers.

When contacted, first-time MLA Patel denied the charges and said the FIR was part of a conspiracy. “The company is engaged in all sorts of irregularities and is blatantly violating mining norms. After I raised my voice, it has lodged a false FIR against me,” he told The Indian Express.

He said even the local populace was protesting against the illegal activities of the company. State BJP president Radha Mohan Singh too came out in defence of the MLA and said he had a clean image and remarked that the allegation was false.

Presently, Bihar is facing an acute shortage of stone chips needed for road construction that has been taken up on a massive scale. This local company was given the lease of a cluster of hills in Lakhisarai district for mining and setting up stone quarries.