NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Rediff Shopping

Shop & gift from thousands of products!   Books     Music       Apparel   Jewellery   Flowers   More..      Safe Shopping

Minister of state dropped following torture charge in Bihar

Our Correspondent in Patna

Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi dropped Minister of State for Co-operatives Lalit Yadav from the ministry late last night.

Rashtriya Janata Dal spokesman Shivanand Tiwari told rediff.com that Yadav had been suspended from primary membership of the party.

A first information report had been filed against Yadav for alleged illegal detention and torture of a truck driver and cleaner at his official residence here. The victims, Karu Ram and Dinanath Baitha, will be produced before court, where their statements will be recorded.

Five others were also named in the FIR, filed following an expose by a private TV channel.

The report showed a person in tattered clothes confined to the cowshed near the minister's quarters, where it said he was detained for 18 days.

Baitha is the driver of a truck belonging to the minister's brother. The truck was reportedly waylaid while crossing the Ganga bridge between Patna and Hajipur.

The minister 'punished' him, alleging his involvement, along with the truck's cleaner. Both were allegedly beaten up and tortured by the minister and his aides.

Baitha and Ram said they were drugged at a roadside hotel, while taking the truck to Hajipur on June 6. They said they both were unconscious when the criminals decamped with the truck and the goods.

The police rescued Baitha and Ram, but the minister and the five others, including his brother and cousin, have not yet been arrested.

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report