Soon, UP Assembly may convene in jail

With the unravelling of the many cases expected in the near future, the list is all set to become longer in the days to come increasing the number of what the supreme court recently remarked during a hearing of the ‘state guests’ (prisoners).

Samajwadi Party MLA from Maharajganj Amar Mani Tripathi had been sentenced to life imprisonment by the court for killing his pregnant lover and poetess Madhumita Shukla.
Another legislator from Moradabad Usma-ul-Haq has also been serving his sentence in the jail. He was charged with killing one Mohammad Azzam and the lower court found him guilty and sentenced him to ten years’ rigorous imprisonment. Haq has filed an appeal in the high court.

28 criminal cases!

A Delhi court had sentenced controversial independent MLA from Mau and mafia don Mukhtar Ansari to ten years’ imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh under TADA and Arms Act. As many as 28 criminal cases are currently pending against Ansari.

Former minister and BSP legislator from Faizabad district Anand Sen is awaiting judgment in a case of murder. Sen has been charged with killing his girl friend and law student Shashi Gupta and later mutilating her body. The hearing of the matter in a Faizabad court has been completed and the court has reserved its verdict. The verdict is awaited in the near future.

BSP legislator from Banda Purshottam Naresh Dwivedi is also facing charges of rape and his case is being heard by a fast track court. Dwivedi has been accused of raping a minor and also of conniving with the police to implicate the girl in a fake theft case. The case of notorious criminal and mafia don BSP legislator from Dibai, Bhagwan Sharma alias Guddu Pandit is pending in a court in Bulandshahar. He is an accused in a rape case. Pandit had also threatened a research scholar in Agra after she insisted on marrying him following an affair.

Independent MLA from Sahjanwan in Gorakhpur district Yaspal Rawat is currently lodged in jail on charges of murder. The verdict in his case is also likely soon. Samajwadi Party MLA from Bareilly Sultan Beg is facing charges of vehicles theft. A large number of stolen vehicles, including trucks, were recovered from his farmhouse a few months back.

Independent MLA from Kunda in Pratapgarh district Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya and his cousin and MLC Akshoy Pratap Singh were sent to jail for threatening a panchayat poll candidate. The government also invoked the dreaded Gangster Act on them. The case is still going on in the court.

Another SP legislator from Gyanpur Vijay Mishra has been charged with trying to kill BSP minister Nand Gopal Nandi in Allahabad. The state government had announced a reward on Mishra, who was arrested a few days back after being on the run for four years. BSP MLA from Bilsi in Budaon district is facing a rape charge. The court has issued a non-bailable (NBW) warrant against him.

Congress supported independent MLA from Varanasi Ajai Rai was also sent to jail on charges of threatening a hotel owner. According to sources in the state assembly secretariat, as many as 150 members of the 403-member UP house have been facing criminal charges and trial against them were on in various courts.