JOIN USWhy is tainted minister in Cabinet: guv
Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik on Sunday sought to know how absconding rape-accused minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati was still continuing in the cabinet.
Naik shot off a letter to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, seeking an explanation for the same.
The governor said Prajapati’s continuance in the cabinet is a serious issue and raises the question of constitutional morality and dignity since a non-bailable warrant has been issued against him.
“A non-bailable warrant has been issued against Prajapati after an FIR was registered against him in a rape case. Serious question of constitutional morality and dignity arise on his remaining in the cabinet,” Naik’s letter read.
Naik also said, according to media reports, a lookout notice has been issued against Prajapati, fearing he might flee the country, and his passport has also been impounded. The governor said it had also come to his notice that the chief minister had asked Prajapati, a senior SP leader, to surrender, but he has not done so till now and is absconding. The police is searching for the minister and trying to arrest him, he said.
On the directives of the apex court, the state police filed an FIR against Prajapati in connection with separate cases of gang-rape and attempt to raping another woman and her minor daughter.
Shah rakes up issue
BJP president Amit Shah raked up the issue on Sunday at an election meeting in Ambedkarnagar, where he rued the state government’s failure to arrest Prajapati. Listing Prajapati’s arrest as one of the first tasks in case the BJP comes to power, Shah said, “As soon as the BJP forms the government in Uttar Pradesh on March 11, we will search for (Gayatri Prasad) Prajapati even from hell and send him to jail.”