On Tuesday, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar expanded his new cabinet to induct 31 new ministers including 16 members from ally Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). A day after the cabinet expansion, controversy erupted over the induction of a few ministers like RJD MLC Kartikeya Singh as Law Minister, Sudhakar Singh as Agriculture Minister, and Chandrashekhar Yadav as Education Minister.
According to the reports, RJD MLC Kartikeya Singh who was appointed as Law Minister yesterday was supposed to surrender at Danapur Court in a kidnapping case but instead, he reached Raj Bhavan in Patna for the oath-taking ceremony. Similarly, Sudhakar Singh who was allegedly involved in the rice scam was appointed as an Agriculture Minister.
The case against now State Law Minister Kartikeya Singh
Reports mention that a case of kidnapping was registered against Karthikeya Singh and 17 others in Patna’s Bihta police station in 2014. He is accused of conspiracy to kidnap a builder named Rajiv Ranjan with the intent to kill him. A charge sheet has been filed in this case. A warrant was issued against Singh on July 14, this year and he was to surrender on August 16 but he was made the Law Minister on that day.
MLC Kartikeya Singh was appointed to the Nitish cabinet through the RJD quota. Singh is a native of Mokama and has also worked as a teacher. Responding to the controversy that erupted during the oath-taking ceremony, Singh said that all the cases against him are irrelevant and that there was no warrant issued in his name. “There is no warrant against me. I have given all the information in the affidavit”, he said.
“The allegations against me are all false and have mentioned all the required information in the election affidavit. Nothing is hidden from the Election Commission. I consider myself innocent. Having a case or not having it is a different matter. There is a difference between accusing and proving. Nothing has been proved yet”, he defended himself.
He has been charged under several sections of IPC including 363 (kidnapping), 364 (kidnapping with intent to murder), 365 (Secret, unjustified kidnapping with intent to imprison), and 34 (The incident was committed by more than one person). The Patna Court in his case had earlier rejected his anticipatory bail in the year 2017.
Sudhakar Singh’s alleged involvement in Rice Scam
The new cabinet led by CM Nitish Kumar appointed Sudhakar Singh as Agriculture Minister on August 16. According to reports, Sudhakar Singh’s name was not included in the prospects, but his father Jagdanand Singh who is RJD’s state president is said to have negotiated the accord. Jagdanand has held the position of state president of RJD since November 2019. Whereas, Sudhakar Singh is the MLA for Ramgarh in Buxar.
CM Nitish Kumar appointing Sudhakar Singh as an Agriculture Minister also was surprising as it was Nitish Kumar’s government who had filed a case against Singh in the rice scam which happened in 2013-14. A case was registered at Ramgarh police station against Singh for embezzling rice under section 420, 406 IPC. The case is still pending in Court.
RJD MLA Chandrashekhar was arrested from the airport with cartridges
Similarly, RJD MLA Chandrashekhar who has been appointed as Education Minister on August 16, was arrested at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) in Delhi on February 20, 2019, for carrying 10 cartridges with his luggage. However, he was later released.
To note, Education Minister Chandrashekhar has become a minister for the second time in the state. Earlier in 2015, he had a ministerial position when the JDU-RJD government was in rule. He was then assigned to the Disaster Management Department. Chandrashekhar, 61, has 3 cases registered against him.
