UP’s two ex-ministers surrender before court, sent to jail

A day after a court ordered attachment of their properties, two former Uttar Pradesh ministers Nasimuddin Siddiqui and Ram Achal Rajbhar on Tuesday surrendered before it and were sent to jail under 14-day judicial custody.

A special court for lawmakers here had on Monday ordered the attachment of properties of the two ministers in the Mayawati-led erstwhile BSP government after declaring them proclaimed offender for evading their arrest in a case registered under stringent POCSO Act.

The case against the duo was registered allegedly for calling names to and using indecent language against the daughter and mother-in-law of sitting Uttar Pradesh minister Swati Singh.

Singh's husband Daya Shankar Singh is a senior BJP leader in Uttar Pradesh. The two former ministers surrendered before Special Judge P K Rai, profusely apologizing for evading their appearance before the court earlier and applied for interim bail.

The court, however, dismissed their interim bail plea and remanded them in judicial custody.

The court slated the duo's bail pleas for regular hearing on Wednesday.

Siddiqui, presently a Congress leader, had lost his seat as BSP MLC last year for defecting to the Congress over three years ago. Rajbhar is a senior BSP leader.

The case against the duo had been lodged by Swati Singh's mother-in-law Tetra Devi at Hazratganj police on July 22, 2016.

She had alleged that Mayawati had hurled abuses on her family in Rajya Sabha a few days earlier while the BSP workers led by Siddiqui and Rajbhar had hurled same abuses against her family including her minor grand-daughter at Ambedkar Statue in Hazratganj a few days later. The police had filed charge-sheet against the accused under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act. PTO CORR ABN RAXRAX