Raja Bhaiya quits,Akhilesh Yadav says CBI will probe

“Action will be taken. Anybody who is accused,no matter how big the person is,will be sent to jail. A CBI probe will be ordered,” Akhilesh told the media after his visit.

Earlier in the day,Raja Bhaiyya drove to the Chief Minister’s residence and submitted his resignation. The Chief Minister then went to Raj Bhawan and handed over the resignation letter to Governor B L Joshi,who accepted it.

The DySP,who was circle officer of Kunda,which is Raja Bhaiyya’s Assembly constituency,was gunned down when he went to Balipur village after the murder of pradhan Nanhe Lal Yadav in a land dispute on Saturday evening.

The FIR against Raja Bhaiyya was lodged after Haque’s wife filed a complaint on Sunday,alleging that her husband had been killed by Raja Bhaiyya’s men on his instructions.

After submitting his resignation today,Raja Bhaiyya issued a statement in the Assembly denying the allegations,and demanding a CBI investigation into the matter.

“I was a minister and could have easily got the CO transferred by requesting the CM. I had no reason to murder him. He was a very soft-spoken officer and I had met him only twice,” said Raja Bhaiyya. “Some people wanted my ouster as minister. They succeeded in their plan. But now the real murderer of CO,Kunda will never be punished,” he added.

His statement came after opposition parties stalled the proceedings in both the assembly and the council,demanding that Raja Bhaiyya should be arrested. While the council was adjourned for the day,the assembly was adjourned for more than an hour.

Raja Bhaiyya said the people named in the FIR included his personal driver Rohit Singh and his representative Hari Om Srivastava. “Rohit was with me at the CM’s residence when I went there on Saturday night to apprise him about the incident. Hari Om is suffering from serious liver and kidney ailments and cannot walk for 10 minutes at a stretch,” he said. These persons will get acquitted by court,but the real killers will go scot-free,he said.

He said the situation was worsened because of the inept handling by a senior police officer who was sent to Pratapgarh from Lucknow. “The officer misbehaved with the people there and was instrumental in drafting the FIR of the CO’s widow,” he stated. ADG (Law and Order) Arun Kumar was the senior police officer sent by Akhilesh Yadav.

The situation was further complicated by a corporator from a particular party who gathered a mob and raised slogans,said Raja Bhaiyya.

Later,talking to the media,Raja Bhaiyya alleged that an inspector of Kunda police station had fired with his service revolver,killing Suresh Yadav,the brother of viillage pradhan Nanhe Lal Yadav. Even the slain CO received bullet injuries from a service revolver,he claimed.

However,he added: “If the CM asks me,I am ready to go to jail’’.

In his statement in the assembly,the Chief Minister assured an impartial probe into the incident. “The government is worried and is in shock over the incident. I appeal to the family of the CO to go ahead with the burial of the body according to their rituals,” he said.