Putting up pressure on state government to act against a minister linked with the murder of a scribe, two delegations of opposition leaders mainly BJP and Congress called on Governor Ram Naik and demanded immediate sacking of the minister and financial compensation to the family of the deceased scribe.
“In his dying declaration before city magistrate and his post on Facebook on May 7 the journalist Joginder Singh has implicated Minister of State for Backward Class Development Ram Murti Singh Verma. But the Government is shielding that 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 Bhawanon Wednesday.
The BJP delegation comprised party’s vice-president Shiv Pratrap Shukla, and party’s twop spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak and Harishchandra Srivastava.
Pathak said that BJP leaders explained in detail the trauma through which the family is passing through. “They have lost their bread winner. Now, the cohorts of minister are pressurizing the family for compromise. The family is still on dharna demanding action against the minister but the police have developed cold feet,” the BJP spokesman said.
He said that BJP’s argument is simple. If police claim that Joginder Singh was named in an FIR under sector 120 B 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 statement,” he asked.
“The incident took place on June 1. The journalist breathed his last on June 8 and the next day case was filed against the minister. In these eight days the police has made no efforts to take version of the minister. This shows it is acting under duress,” Pathak said.
The BJP delegation said that the law of natural justice demands that the minister should be sacked so that police can probe independently.
The Congress delegation was led by Satyadeo Tripathi, chairman, media committee. “This is a most heinous crime unheard of in this decade or two. This is an attack on the Fourth Estate. The UP police is incompetent to deal with the situation and the case should be handed over to CBI,” he told Governor.