DSP’s killing: Raja Bhaiya resigns from UP Cabinet

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Controversial UP minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias ‘Raja Bhaiya’ today resigned from the state Cabinet in the wake of the killing of a DSP in Pratapgarh district.

“Raja Bhaiya ka istifa ho gaya hai (Raja Bhaiya has resigned),” SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav told reporters outside Parliament. Raja Bhaiya met UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow this morning and submitted his resignation, official sources said.

His resignation has been accepted by governor B.L. Joshi, they said. The UP Assembly was adjourned for 30 minutes this morning following uproar over killing of the officer.

DSP Zia-ul-Haq was killed by a mob in Pratapgarh on Saturday when he had rushed there after a village head was shot dead over a land dispute. The slain officer’s wife had accused Raja Bhaiya for the attack. In a complaint to police, the DSP’s wife Pravin Azad said, “On the directions of Raja Bhaiya, nagar panchayat chairman Gulshan Yadav, minister’s representative Hari Om Srivastava, his driver Rohit Singh and supporter Guddu Singh first assaulted my husband with sticks and rods and later shot him dead.”

She filed the complaint in Kunda police station yesterday where her husband was posted. Asked about BSP chief Mayawati’s demand for imposition of President’s Rule in UP, Yadav said, “It is unnecessary....It is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.”

Mayawati had earlier told reporters that there is goonda raj in UP and that the Centre should take action by clamping President’s Rule in the state.

“When a police officer is not secure, what to speak of the common man,” she said.