BSP leader alleges plot to kill him

Yogesh Verma, former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA from Meerut , who was earlier arrested on charges of orchestrating violent protests during the April 2 Dalit protests in Meerut, alleged on Saturday that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government was trying to get him killed in jail.

The Meerut police submitted a charge-sheet in the district court against Mr. Verma and 87 others in five cases, including attempt to murder, dacoity, loot, and Sections of the Arms Act.

‘False, motivated’

“All the cases filed against me are false and politically motivated. I did not conspire to create violence. In fact, I was trying to calm and placate the agitated mob. There are videos that prove my role was against violence that day. Further, there is a threat to my life,” Mr. Verma told the court.

He later told the media, “The local administration, acting at the behest of the BJP government, does not want me to be safe. There are people in the government who want me dead because I am their political rival.”

Last week, the Meerut administration endorsed the detention of Mr. Verma under the stringent National Securities Act, 1980. Later, a local court refused to grant him bail. His lawyers are now in the process of filing a bail petition in the Allahabad High Court.

Sunita Verma, Mayor of Meerut and Mr. Verma’s wife, alleged that the BJP government had framed her husband to avenge its defeat in the municipal polls. She alleged that there was a conspiracy to kill him because he remained inimical to the ruling party in Meerut.

‘Evidence in court’

“There are videos to prove that my husband was doing just the opposite of what he was charged with. He is a public personality and he was on the streets, persuading and trying to convince the mob not to indulge in violence. We will submit the evidence in court,” she said.