FIR against SP MLA for blocking govt work in Pratapgarh

Pratapgarh police on Saturday lodged an FIR against Samajwadi Party MLA from Raniganj constituency RK Verma and his 55 supporters for blocking government works and under other relevant sections of the IPC.

A video had gone viral on social media on Saturday in which Verma was seen pushing walls of an under-construction government engineering college in his constituency. Verma had during his visit to the construction site on June 23, alleged anomalies in construction as bricks fell off a recently constructed wall at his push.

The case has been registered at the Kandhai police station on the complaint of Mohd Irshad, the project manager of the Noida-based construction firm.

In his complaint Irshad alleged that the SP MLA and his supporters pushed and demolished part of the college building wall which was constructed the same day. He claimed that Verma and his supporters also threatened the company’s workers when they raised objections.

SHO of Kandhai police station Trilokinath Pandey said an FIR has been lodged against six persons including MLA RK Verma, his supporters VL Patel, Dinesh Singh, Dinesh Patel and MLA’s brother Monu. FIR has also been registered against about 40 to 50 others.

“Further investigation is now on,” the SHO said.

Officials of the rural engineering services had also visited the under-construction site after the video went viral on social media. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on June 24 had shared a video on social media claiming the poor quality of construction of the college building in Pratapagrh. The video shared from Akhilesh Yadav’s verified Twitter account showed a brick pillar come crashing down after the SP MLA pushed at it. “This will be a four-storey building,” the MLA was heard claiming in the video.