New Delhi, March 25: In compliance with a court order, the police lodged an FIR against a BSP legislator, his associates and three policemen on Wednesday in connection with a case involving land grabbing, threat to life, loot and damaging the private property of a villager.
“The Raniganj police lodged an FIR under Sections 147 (rioting), 447 (criminal trespass), 427 (causing damage to property), 389 (threat for extortion) and 504 (threat to life) against Ram Shiromani Shukla, BSP legislator from Pratapgarh’s Beerapur, his wife Manju Shukla, then Raniganj station officer D P Tiwari, two constables and 27 others,” said SP (Pratapgarh) M P Mishra. The incumbent Raniganj Station Officer, H S Soni, will also investigate the matter, he added.
In his application, victim Ram Narayan Yadav had alleged that on June 6, 2008, Shukla, his wife, Tiwari, two constables — Ajay Mishra and Ravinder Tiwari — and 25 unidentified people came to Sekhupur and demolished his house, which was under construction. They also forcibly captured two biswa land belonging to him.
“In 2008, Shukla had grabbed eight bighas of gram sabha land at Sekhupur village for construction of a post-graduate college. He also forcefully grabbed adjoining land belonging to some Dalits and backward caste people for the same purpose. I am one of the victims,” said Yadav.
When Yadav approached the police, including the Pratapgarh SP, he was allegedly threatened by Tiwari. Even senior police officers did not listen to his complaint. Finally, on March 16, he moved an application in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) against Shukla and others.
Following this, the CJM ordered on Tuesday that an FIR be lodged against the MLA and others. “It is a serious matter as it involved influential persons, including government officials. The Pratapgarh SP is directed to lodge the FIR against the persons named in the application and inform the court within a week,” said CJM (Pratapgarh) A K Tiwari.
The police, meanwhile, inititiated a fresh inquiry into the allegations that Shukla has grabbed the land at Sekhupur belonging to gram sabha. On June 24, 2008 the then Pratapgarh district magistrate Centhil Pandyan C had ordered an inquiry into the allegations and subsequently the then Raniganj sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) had submitted a report indicting the MLA and his goons for grabbing the government land.
Based on the SDM report, Pandyan C had ordered demolition of the college building. But Pandyan C got transferred and his successors could not muster the courage to demolish the building, said a district official.
The incumbent district magistrate C S Verma, has now said that he will conduct a fresh inquiry into the matter.
While Shukla could not be contacted even after repeated attempts, his media in-charge Ramesh Mishra refused to comment on the issue.
—-Agencies