Breaking his silence after over two months Ram Murti Singh Verma, the minister of state for OBCs welfare claimed that he was innocent and had nothing to do with the death of the Shahjahanpur journalist Jagendra Singh. He said Jagendra Singh was not killed; he had committed suicide by self immolating himself.
Jagendra was burnt in Shahjahanpur on June 4. He was rushed to lucknow where he succumbed to 90 percent burn injuries here at trauma center on June 9. In his dying declaration the journalist had named Ram Murti Singh Verma, at whose behest the policemen allegedly poured kerosene oil and burnt him.
Making a statement in the state assembly during the law and order debate the minister said it was a conspiracy by his political rivals, opposition parties and the suspended IPS officer Amitab Thakur, who framed him in the incident with the aim of maligning the SP government. The minister said the IPS officer started misleading the media after Jagendra Singh was shifted to lucknow. The minister said after his death the body was taken to Shahjahanpur. As preparations was made for his cremation, a phone call from lucknow , the local journalist made the demand that cremation will take place only after an FIR was lodged about the incident. The minister accused the suspended IPS officer of tarnishing the image of the state government and the ruling party in the entire country by his twisted presentation of the incident.