Murder accused held from Jagat?s house in Jaipur
Reacting against the police action, Jagat Singh says he is being ?framed under a planned political conspiracy?, report Bhanu Pratap Singh and KS Tomar.
The Jaipur police on Friday arrested a murder accused and a “bootlegger” from the official residence of Jagat Singh — son of former Union minister Natwar Singh — after a two-and-a-half hour drama.
Mehram Chaudhary, a resident of Nagaur district, has been charged with killing Babu Lal Gurjar at Choti-Khatu near Nagaur on February 6. Reacting against the police action, Jagat Singh told the Hindustan Times that he was being “framed under a planned political conspiracy”.
“My opponents are upset that I am making inroads into the Jat community, especially in western Rajasthan. Today’s incident was aimed at checking my growing influence.” he said. Rajasthan home minister Gulab Chand Kataria told HT that there was no “political vendetta” in arresting the accused from the MLA’s residence. “The man had been dodging the police for the past eight months. So, when the police were tipped off, I allowed them to go ahead and arrest Choudhary,” Kataria said. However, the home minister said the police would now investigate if Chaudhary visited Jagat frequently. The Jaipur police said it was yet to be verified if Jagat (the MLA from Rajasthan’s Laxmangarh constituency) was guilty of sheltering the accused. “We will have to find out about the ‘intention and knowledge’ of the MLA (in allowing Chaudhary inside his house) to establish if he is guilty,” deputy superintendent of police (Ashok Nagar) Karan Sharma said.
When the team from Jyoti Nagar police station surrounded the house (quarter number 3/5) in Vidhayak Colony near the Vidhan Sabha at around 5:30 pm, the MLA was reportedly present inside the house. But he slipped away.
Jagat, however denied it. “I was inside the Vidhan Sabha when the police surrounded my house,” he said.