Samajwadi Party demands Mayawati’s dismissal

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Accusing Uttar Pradesh’s Mayawati government of terrorising the family of deputy chief medical officer Y.S. Sachan, found dead mysteriously in a Lucknow jail, the Samajwadi Party on Saturday urged governor B.L. Joshi to dismiss it.

“We demanded that the government that has failed to contain crime and corrupt practices must be dismissed immediately and president’s rule be imposed in Uttar Pradesh,” state party president Akhilesh Yadav told reporters. “The way legislators and ministers are getting involved in crimes and corrupt practices, the state government must not be allowed to function any more,” said Yadav, who led a delegation of Samajwadi Party activists to hand over a memorandum to the governor.

“The Central government must intervene in the matter,” he added. Yadav alleged that the family of Sachan, which has been demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into his death, is being threatened by the police and others at the behest of the state government. “The way Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and other policemen were deployed around Sachan’s residence indicates that his family is being terrorised. The state government is not willing to order a CBI probe as it fears it would get exposed,” Yadav said.

“It is trying its best to cover up Sachan’s death that appears to be a murder,” he added. Sachan, the prime accused in chief medical officer family welfare B.P. Singh’s murder, was found dead in mysterious circumstances inside a Lucknow district jail toilet Wednesday evening. His post-mortem examination report mentioned “excessive bleeding” as the cause of death and talked about nine wounds on the doctor’s body, yet the officials rule out murder. Sachan was facing charges of not only masterminding Singh's murder but for also giving money for what was officially termed as “contract killing.” Sachan’s death is the third in succession over alleged bungling of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) funds in Uttar Pradesh.

Singh was gunned down during his morning walk outside his residence in Lucknow’s posh Gomati Nagar April 2, and his predecessor Vinod Arya was also similarly shot dead by masked motorcyclists as he stepped out of his home for his morning walk in October 2010.

Award of huge contracts for supply of goods and equipment under the centrally-funded NRHM and large-scale financial bungling were officially stated to be the cause behind both the murders.