Putting up pressure on the State Government to act against a Minister linked with the murder of a scribe, two delegations of Opposition leaders — mainly the BJP and the Congress — called on Governor Ram Naik and demanded immediate sacking of the Minister and financial compensation to the family of the deceased.
“In his dying declaration before city magistrate and his post on Facebook on May 7, journalist Joginder Singh had implicated Minister of State for Backward Class Development Ram Murti Singh Verma. But the Government is shielding the tainted minister. The law of natural justice demands that action should be taken against the Minister,” both the delegation members said in their memorandum given to Naik in Raj Bhavan on Wednesday. The BJP delegation comprised party’s vice-president Shiv Pratrap Shukla, and two party spokesmen Vijay Bahadur Pathak and Harishchandra Srivastava.
Pathak said that BJP leaders explained in detail the trauma through which the family was passing through. “They have lost their breadwinner. Now, the cohorts of Minister are putting pressure on the family for compromise. The family is still on dharna demanding action against the Minister but police seem to have developed a cold feet,” the BJP spokesman said.
He said that the BJP’s argument is simple. If police claim that Joginder Singh was named in an FIR under Section 120B and it had gone to his residence on June 1 to take his statement, “the minister is also booked under the same section. Why police has so far not taken his statementIJ” he asked.
“The incident took place on June 1. The journalist breathed his last on June 8 and the next day a case was filed against the Minister. In these eight days, police have made no efforts to take the Minister’s version. This shows it is acting under duress,” Pathak said.
Meanwhile, Governor Ram Naik has assured all help to the family members of the deceased journalist. Sources in Raj Bhavan said that teh Governor spoke to the son of Jogindra Singh on telephone. “The Governor has assured all help to him. He told him that he will take up the matter with the Chief Minister. The Governor also informed the family members that he has passed on letters he had received on this issue to the Chief Minister for further action,” the source told The Pioneer here on Wednesday.