In MP, an 11-year case involving Scindia aide echoes Anand Mohan episode
BHOPAL: A large section of BJP continues to rail against Bihar government over the release of former MP Anand Mohan Singh (who was serving life sentence in the 1994 murder of an IAS officer). However, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh has reportedly given its nod to withdraw an 11-year-old criminal case against Jyotiraditya Scindia loyalist Raghuraj Singh Kansana.
The 2012 case refers to an attack on a Delhi Police team, which includes charges of dacoity and attempt-to-murder. The case suffered a jolt from a special MP/MLA court in Gwalior on Wednesday. The court while rejecting the government plea held that since the case involves serious offences, allowing its withdrawal would neither be in the interest of law nor public. The court posted the matter for hearing on May 3.
In 2012 the state was ruled by the same Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government. That year, Kansana and aides were booked under IPC sections 307, 186, 353, 332, 224, 225, 398 (attempt to murder, obstructing public servant in discharging duties and voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant and dacoity) and also provisions of the MP Dacoity and Kidnapping Affected Areas Act.
Kansana was the Morena district panchayat chairman (then with Congress), when a team of Delhi Police caught his brother Sanjeev Singh in a criminal case and took him to the Morena City Kotwali. A Delhi court had issued non-bailable warrants against Sanjeev and two others. Kansana and his aides freed Sanjeev from police custody allegedly after opening fire on the Delhi police team inside the Morena Kotwali premises. A case was registered in May 2012.
Kansana was elected the Congress MLA from Morena seat in 2018 assembly polls. Attempts were made during the Kamal Nath-led Congress regime to have the case against Kansana withdrawn. But the state law department in 2020 conveyed its disagreement to the state home department. It said the charges against Kansana and aides were too serious to be dropped.
A few months later, Kansana along with 21 other Congress MLAs loyal to Scindia, rebelled against the Kamal Nath government, leading to its fall and the return of Chouhan-led government in March 2020. It was on April 19 the government reportedly gave its nod for withdrawing the case.
A week later, the special MP/MLA court in Gwalior said: “Allowing withdrawal of the case (in final phases) on government plea would neither be in the interest of law nor in public, as the allegations are serious,” additional government counsel in Gwalior Dharmendra Sharma told this paper.
‘Non-bailable warrants against Singh’
Kansana was the Morena district panchayat chairman (then with Congress), when a team of Delhi Police caught his brother Sanjeev Singh in a criminal case and took him to the Morena City Kotwali. A Delhi court had issued non-bailable warrants against Sanjeev and two others. Kansana and his aides freed Sanjeev from police custody allegedly after opening fire on the Delhi police team inside Morena Kotwali premises.