As the opposition pressure is mounting on the Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to sack a minister who is named in FIR in connection with death of a scribe, Samajwadi Party Government came to the rescue of Ram Murti Singh Verma saying mere naming a person in FIR does not prove his involvement in the crime. “FIR does not mean that a person is guilty. let the police complete its probe. law is taking its own course and the party will abide by the law,” SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav told reporters here after a high level meeting held at party office on Friday. “You will have to wait till the police completes its investigation and submits its report,” he said.
The statement has come as a big relief to Ram Murti Verma as opposition has been baying for his head. Pressure was also building on Chief Minister to sack this tainted minister. Yadav said the party has nothing to hide. If someone has done something wrong he should be punished. One cannot punish a person on the basis of FIR. His guilt has to be probed and police is doing that, he said.
The meeting which continued for almost an hour was attended by party president Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chief Minister and UP President Akhilesh Yadav, party’s national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav and senior UP Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav. Surprisingly, Samajwadi party has expelled former MlA Devendra Pal Singh in Shahjahanpur from the party for anti-party activities. Sources say that former MlA was supporting journalist’s family which has irked the party leadership. BJP spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak questioned SP leadership’s decision to defend minister but sack a former MlA. He also said that Yadav’s statement that filing FIR does not make any person culprit only gives patronage to a murderers.