E-Paper
UP deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya surrenders before court in poll code violation case, gets bail
Keshav Prasad Maurya , who surrendered before a Prayagraj court, will move a bail application which will be heard shortly.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya was given bail just an hour after he surrendered before a Prayagraj court in two cases of violation of model code of conduct and a ten-year old case linked to a dispute of Durga Puja Pandal committee.
The two cases were heard by a fast-track court set up by the government on orders of the Supreme Court to expedite criminal cases against lawmakers.
The judge had earlier issued non-bailable warrants against the deputy chief minister in a September 2008 case where he was named as a suspect in a complaint that money was collected from public after forging papers of a Durga Puja committee.
He also faces a criminal case for violating the Election Commission-mandated model code of conduct.
Keshav Prasad Maurya’s lawyers have denied the allegations, insisting that he was framed by his political rivals by framing him in false cases. The BJP leader says the complaints are politically motivated.
In 2014, the lawmaker had declared nearly a dozen criminal cases when he contested, and won parliamentary seat from Phulpur.
He was inducted as a deputy chief minister by Yogi Adityanath after the BJP’s stunning victory in the 2017 state elections. Maurya had later resigned from Lok Sabha and was elected to the legislative council.
