LUCKNOW: UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya surrendered before a Prayagraj special court in connection with two criminal cases pertaining to violation of model code of the conduct and a ten-year-old case linked to a dispute surrounding a Durga Puja Pandal committee, on Friday.
He was, however, granted bail within an hour of surrender.
The two cases had been pending in the fast-track special court set up by the government to hear the criminal cases against the lawmakers. The government had to set up those courts in compliance with a Supreme Court order.
The court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Maurya in a case dating back to September 2008. Maurya was named as a suspect in a complaint over the collection of money from common people by constituting a frivolous Durga Puja Committee.
Maurya was also booked for alleged violation of the model code of conduct during the last Lok Sabha elections in 2014. He contested on a BJP ticlet from Phulpur and won the seat.
Maurya's lawyer rejected all the allegations against his client, calling them politically motivated. "His political rivals framed him in false cases in which he had no role," his advocate said.
After a massive mandate in 2017 Assembly polls in UP, Maurya joined Yogi Adityanath's government as the deputy CM and later gave up his Lok Sabha seat, which the BJP finally lost to the Samajwadi Party (SP) in a by-election.