Union minister Beni Prasad, son booked for attempt to murder

Union minister for Steel Beni Prasad Verma and his son Rakesh Verma have been reportedly booked for attempt to murder. The complaint was filed against them by Shiv Shankar Shukla, an aspirant for a Congress party ticket for the forthcoming state assembly election from Barabanki, about 35 km from Lucknow.

Shukla has accused Verma, his son Rakesh and four of their unidentified cohorts of "attempt to murder, assault, rioting and violence" under sections 307, 323,504,507 and 147 of the Indian Penal Code, according to th Barabanki police.

According to the FIR, Shukla had gone to meet Uttar Pradesh Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi while she was addressing a press conference along with actor turned Congress MP Raj Babbar on November 21, when Verma took serious offence to his presence and set his goons to thrash him.

Shukla was seeking the party ticket from the constituency, but Verma managed to bag the ticket for his son Rakesh.

Known to be close to National Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes Commission PL Punia, who was also the Congress MP from Baranbanki, Shukla had objected to Rakesh's candidature. "And Beni Prasad Verma and his goons beat me up simply because I dared to stake claim on more legitimate grounds," Shukla told reporters in Barabanki.

Verma and his son were not available for comment.