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UP lokayukta indicts education minister
Uttar Pradesh lokayukta Justice (retd) NK Mehrotra on Tuesday indicted state’s secondary education minister Rangnath Mishra over corruption charges and recommended a CBI inquiry.
Uttar Pradesh lokayukta Justice (retd) NK Mehrotra on Tuesday indicted state’s secondary education minister Rangnath Mishra over corruption charges and recommended a CBI inquiry.
The lokayukta suggested the minister should be asked to step down to facilitate an impartial probe. Mishra is the third minister in the BSP government, after Rajesh Tripathi and Avadhpal Singh, to have been indicted by the lokayukta on corruption charges.
As if on cue, the lokayukta has received “fresh” complaints against higher education minister Rakesh Dhar Tripathi, as well. The lokayukta is also probing allegations of corruption against three other ministers in the UP government.
Welcoming the report, UP BJP chief Surya Pratap Shahi, on Tuesday, demanded Mishra’s ouster. Despite repeated attempts, Mishra, however, did not take any calls seeking his response on his indictment.
Sources said the probability of the CM initiating action against him were “very much there”. Mehrotra has also ordered another case to be filed against Mishra for encroaching on gram sabha land in Bhadohi’s Aurai village in Sant Ravidas Nagar district. Mehrotra told HT, “The minister hasn’t been able to satisfactorily explain property and other purchases of R84 lakh.”
Mishra is also facing charges of misuse of MLA fund and making illegal appointments in UP schools, but the lokayukta has refrained from commenting, as some issues are in the court while others are yet to be “examined”.
