The Patna police on Thursday registered an FIR against Union Minister of State Giriraj Singh and over 30 others on the charge of illegally purchasing and selling 2.36 acres of land in Danapur. The FIR was lodged with Danapur police station at the instruction of additional district and session judge. The court after hearing a petition filed by one Ram Narayan Prasad of Asopur directed the police to institute the case and probe the matter.
The petitioner alleged that all the accused persons were involved in the purchase and sale of the land without any authority. Prasad said he got the land from his maternal uncle Bipat Ram through registered bakhshishnama deed and the unauthrorised sale and purchase of the pars of the land stared way back in 1957.
The petitioner, a retired Deputy Commissioner of Land Revenue of Jharkhand, has however, not directly accused Giriraj Singh, the BJP MP from Nawada. Patna City SP Ravindra Kumar said, “After institution of the case the matter is under investigation.”
Petitioner Prasad’s nephew Anil Prasad claimed, “We are the owner of this property and we have legal papers with us. This is our ancestral property and it had been given on batai to some people who started its sale without any authorisation. But we don’t know who were the people involved in purchasing the land.”
But with the name of the Union MoS surfacing, politics started with allegations and counter allegations. Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav while hitting hard at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, sarcastically asked why they were mum when a serious charge has been levelled against a senior BJP leader.
He said his party would raise the issue in the parliament and he has asked his MP Jaya Prakash Yadav to seek PM’s intervention and action against Giriraj Singh. He also recalled that after the Lok Sabha polls crores of rupees in cash had been found in Singh’s residence in Patna but instead of taking any action he was made a Minister. JD(U) leader Shyam Rajak said the police have already registered the case and started investigation.
Giriraj Singh in a TV byte said he would look into the matter. But he warned Tejashwi of no not indulging in “childish” act else he would take legal action against him.