JOIN USUP legislators flood jails
They face charges ranging from murders, rapes and kidnappings to extortion and grabbing of properties.
Frequent affair
Given the speed with which these lawmakers have been making it to the jails, they might even be looking at creating a record of sorts by the time the current assembly completes its full term in May 2012 and a new Vidhan Sabha is formed after the assembly polls.
While eight lawmakers are lodged in various jails, at least five of them facing serious charges had been at large on bail. Several of the jailed lawmakers have been convicted by the courts in cases of rape and murder and are serving life terms.
Mafia don turned politician and BSP Lok Sabha MP from Jaunpur Dhannajay Singh and the party legislator from Faizabad, Jitendra Singh alias ‘Babloo’ with a long criminal history, were the latest entrant to the state jails.
BSP reign
The tryst of the UP lawmakers with the jail began after the BSP was catapulted to power in 2007 assembly polls. One of the party legislators Anand Sen could not even be administered oath of office and secrecy as he was in jail on a charge of murder.
Sen allegedly conspired to get a law student (with whom he had an affair) killed after she insisted on marrying him. The body of the girl could not be traced but the lower court had convicted Sen, currently serving life term.
BSP MLA from Auraiya Shekhar Tewari has also been in jail on charges of beating PWD engineer Manoj Gupta to death after the latter refused to give him funds for celebrating BSP supremo Mayawati’s B’day.
Another BSP legislator from Banda Purshottam Naresh Dwivedi has also been cooling his heels in jail. He is charged with allegedly raping a minor and getting her implicated in a false case when the latetr threatend to expose him. The case is being probed by the CBI.
BSP MLA Jitendra Singh Babloo, who had been ‘hailed’ by the party after he allegedly torched UP Congress president Reeta Bahuguna Joshi’s house in Lucknow, was arrested a few days back on charges of grabbing property.
The BSP Lok Sabha member Dhananjay Singh was arrested on Sunday in a double murder case. Singh allegedly got two persons killed by his goons following a dispute over collection of toll tax in Jaunpur in 2009.
Samajwadi Party MLA Usmanul Haq, who allegedly got one of his political opponents killed in Moradabad, has been in the jail for the past several months.
Indpendent MLA and mafia don Mukhtar Ansari is also in the jail on charges of killing BJP legislator Krishnanad Rai in Ghazipur, a few years back.
Besides, there are several others who have been in and out of jail during the past few years. They included mafia don and Independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh, former minister and Independent MLA Ashok Yadav and legislative council members S P Singh and Akshoya Pratap Singh.