ex gratia(EDs: With fresh inputs, reax, background)Lucknow, Oct 29 (PTI) A five-year-old boy died afterbeing hit allegedly by a car in the motorcade of an UttarPradesh minister near Colonelganj in Gonda district, followingwhich Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath sought a report from thestate police chief.
One of the cars in Cabinet minister Om Prakash Rajbhar'scavalcade, while passing through Colonelganj area yesterday,had allegedly knocked down Shiva Goswami, who died on way tothe hospital last night, the police said.
Eyewitnesses and the family members of the boy allegedthat no one in the convoy stopped to help the child. Hisfather Vishwanath alleged that the minister sped away in oneof the cars decorated with garlands.
However, Rajbhar claimed that he was 25 km away, inanother car, when the incident occurred.
The boy was playing by the side of a road when he was hitreportedly by one of the cars in the minister's cavalcade. Hismother and grandmother near the spot.
Following the incident, angry villagers placed the boy'sbody on the road demanding action.
The chief minister has directed the DGP to submit areport and announced Rs 5 lakh compensation to the next of kinof the deceased. He also directed the DGP to initiate strictaction against those responsible for the incident.
Rajbhar, who heads the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, anally of the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh, is the statedivyangjan empowerment minister.
He was in the news three weeks back when a video wentviral on social media purportedly showing him warning thatparents who fail to send their children to schools would belocked up in police stations without food and water.
In July, Rajbhar had threatened to sit on a dharna if atop official in his home district was not removed.
Recently, another state minister Jai Kumar Singh Jaiki,was in the news when a farmer in Jalaun district claimed thathis crop was allegedly trampled by the convoy of the ministerwho later paid him Rs 4,000 for the damage.
Last week, the farmer had alleged that that nearly adozen vehicles of the minister destroyed his crops in Orai.
Jaiki, an MLA of BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) fromJahanabad assembly constituency in Fatehpur district, however,said there were no standing crops in the field, as the sownmustard seeds were yet to germinate, but still Rs 4,000 waspaid to the farmer. PTI SMI NSD ADSNSD.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.