BJP MlA from Rudrapur Rajkumar Thukral alleged that he is facing life threat from former MlA Tilak Raj Behad. "He may kill me with the help of UP Cabinet Minister Azam Khan," he said while addressing media in Dehradun on Saturday. Continuing with his charges, he said "He has already implicated me in Rudrapur riot.
I went into hiding for over five months. State police are supporting him in his heinous design. The State Government has not upgraded my security despite having vowed to provide me with Y-plus security on June 8 and December 14 in 2012. CM is sitting on it as Behad is blackmailing him. Behad threatened to quit Congress in case my security is upgraded," he alleged.
However, Tilak Raj Behad rubbished the allegation, saying that MlA Thukral has lost his mental balance. "He is raving wildly," he said. Meanwhile Punjabi Mahasabha has thrown its weight behind Behad.
Thukral said that he had contested nine elections and won all of them, the last time during the 2012 Assembly election. "Development of the constituency I represent is my passion. I met the Chief Minister recently and had a few projects sanctioned for Rudrapur constituency. But Behad is putting all efforts to delay things," he said.
"In October 2011, Gurudwara Singh Sabha was attacked by a few miscreants. Punjabi Mahasabha remained idle. They chose to keep their mobile phones switched off. later, Punjabi Mahasabha president had falsely implicated me in Rudrapur riot. "I am a Punjabi and I do not require any certificate from anyone to prove my credentials," he said. He also said that Punjabi Mahasabha has failed to stand up for the cause of the community in the area. "They are not interested in enacting the Grudwara Act," he added. "The act was enforced in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab long back. Here, the sabha is out to terrorise the community," he said.
Mention worthy, Thukral had served jail term after he was named an accused in Rudrapur riots which left four persons dead and 60 injured. The riots took place after pages of a holy book were found outside a place of worship in the town. He was later declared an absconder and a reward of Rs 2,500 was announced for anyone giving information on his whereabouts. Thukral later surrendered to the police.
In 2003, BJP MlA from Rudrapur was elected as municipal chairman and held the post till 2008. Enmity is supposed to have started when Behad, then the health minister of Uttarakhand, had opposed Thukral's election to the chairman's post.