JDU MLA booked for extortion

An FIR has been lodged against ruling Janata Dal U MLA Neeraj Kumar Singh...

An FIR has been lodged against ruling Janata Dal U MLA Neeraj Kumar Singh, alias Babloo, by an official of the construction company, Gammon India 8212; working on the ambitious East -West Corridor road project 8212; for allegedly demanding a huge sum as extortion money.

According to the FIR, the MLA, along with his supporters, reached the camp office of Gammon India near Madhubani village in Supaul district, misbehaved with the camp office manager and demanded Rs 9 lakhs per month as extortion money. The incident took place on January 6 and the FIR was lodged on Monday. 8220;We informed our head office in Mumbai about the incident and lodged an FIR after getting the nod,8221; local manager of Gammon India, Ramesh Madhubhasi, informed the media.

The ambitious East-West Corridor road project seeks to connect Silchar in the east to Porbandar in the west of the country through an expressway. Work on the Bihar portion of the project is on at full swing. This is the first time that a ruling party MLA has been charged of putting a hurdle by demanding extortion money.

However, this is not the first instance that an MLA has been accused of demanding money from companies engaged in developmental projects in Bihar. Earlier, another JDU MLA was booked for demanding money from a company engaged for constructing a school.

A couple of months ago an FIR was lodged against BJP MLA Prem Ranjan Patel for demanding extortion money from a company making stone chips for road construction in Sheikhpura district. The MLA had alleged political conspiracy and the police have so far refrained from taking any action against him. The only MLA who has been punished on extortion charges is Sunil Pandey. He landed behind bars last year after he allegedly demanded money from a company engaged in rural electrification in Aurangabad and threatened to kill the manager.

Neeraj Singh, who represents Raghopur constituency, has denied the charge and alleged that it8217;s a political conspiracy to defame him. 8220;I visited Gammon India8217;s camp office on January 6 to demand that local labourers should be given work in the project. Locals had complained to me that the company was hiring people from outside,8221; he said and added that he would take up the matter with CM Nitish Kumar. Singh is said to be close to dissident JDU leader and former MP Anand Mohan, who has been awarded death sentence in the murder of Gopalgunj District Magistrate G Krishnaiah.

Road construction in Bihar has always faced hurdles and most of the time the threat is from Naxal outfits, despite the Nitish Kumar Government claiming that it has given adequate security to the employees of the construction companies. In fact, the state Government feels that the construction companies use the threat from Naxals to cover up their slow progress.