The issue of two Congress MlAs-Mamta Rakesh and Furkan Ahmed- having received threatening letters from unidentified persons had its echo ringing in the House on the third day of the budget session on Tuesday.
As the House assembled at 11 am the Speaker announced while referring to the matter that he had received the petition lodged under the section 310. He, however, said that he would take it up under section 58 instead.
After condolence was conveyed on two deceased former MlAs- Bharat Singh Rawat and Sukhbir Singh- the House erupted in a heated discussion on the threat letters two Opposition MlAs are said to have received. leading the debate for the opposition, the leader of the opposition Indira Hridayesh asked the government to provide adequate security to the two threatened MlAs.
Hridayesh alleged that Mamta Rakesh, widow of the former cabinet minister Surendra Rakesh, had received a letter from an unnamed person threatening to kill or abduct her or have a bomb exploded at her residence. The unnamed writer had cited the case of the abduction of the MlA Furkan Ahmed’s brother in 2012, she said, adding that the same might happen to other MlAs too.
She further said that scared Mamta has been staying at her relation’s residence in Dehradun away from Bhagwanpur, the constituency she was elected from.
Slamming the police under the new regime, Hridayesh said that they were yet to act despite the MlA having lodged a police complaint on March 16. “Since the result of the election was declared a reign of terror has been let loose with even the MlAs not feeling secure,” she said.
Other Congress MlAs like Preetam Singh, Govind Singh Kunjwal, Karan Mahra and Rajkumar rose to their feet, raising the same issue, demanding the accused be arrested.
later, the State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant said that circle officer, SOG and lIU have been jointly conducting a probe into the case. They had apprehended 16 people so far and the handwritings of six of the suspected were being matched by the experts, he said.
Though Hridayesh demanded Y-category security for Mamta till the accused was arrested, the State Government agreed to provide the MlA with special security in view of the threat perception for the time being. However, later in the evening, things turned as the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat declared while participating in the discussion on the Governor’s address that Mamta Rakesh would be provided with the Y- category security as demanded by the Opposition.