PATNA: Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor on Monday demanded the immediate resignation of Bihar’s deputy chief minister and BJP leader Samrat Choudhary for securing relief in a 1995 murder case by providing wrong information to the court about his age.
Talking to media persons, Kishor said that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar should immediately drop Choudhary from his cabinet and get him arrested for being a murder accused in the killing of six persons and misleading the court by providing wrong information about his real age.
“If CM does not take action, a delegation of the party will meet the Governor to demand Choudhary's resignation and his arrest,” Kishor said, adding that how could a man remain on the constitutional post after being a murder accused?
Samrat Choudhary, also known as Rakesh Kumar or Rakesh Kumar Maurya, was booked in connection with the murder of six persons under the Tarapur police station limits in Munger district in 1995.
He secured relief from the court on the plea that he was underage at the time of the incident.
Kishor said that Choudhary had claimed before the Supreme court that he was only 15 years old when the incident took place. As a result, he was released from the court on the plea of being a juvenile. The matter remained under wraps for years.
On the contrary, Choudhary, in his affidavit for the 2020 assembly election, mentioned his age as 51 years.
Kishor said, “If Choudhary’s affidavit is to be believed, he was 26 years old in 1995 when he was named as an accused in the murder case,”.
The scrutiny of the documents showed that Samrat Choudhary declared himself a minor to get benefits under the Juvenile Justice Act. He was released from the court based on wrong information provided by the accused, Jan Suraaj Party founder said.
Choudhary had submitted the certificate released by the Bihar School Examination Board as evidence to prove his age.
Jan Suraaj Party founder also sought to know about Choudhary’s role in the infamous Shilpi-Gautam murder case in Patna during the RJD rule. “I would like to know from him where he was quizzed by CBI or his blood samples were collected for test,” he told the media.
Kishor also expressed surprise over Union Home Minister Amit Shah meeting with a murder accused during his visit to Bihar. “The man who should have been behind the bar is moving with the union home minister in the same vehicle,” he said.