Madhya Pradesh: BSP MLA’s husband arrested in murder case

By PTI

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Police on Sunday arrested the husband of a BSP MLA in connection with a murder case of 2019, an official said.

Govind Singh, the husband of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Ram Bai Singh who represents Patharia in the state’s Damoh district, was caught at a bus stand in Bhind district, he said.

He is an accused in the case of murder of Congress leader Devendra Chaurasia in Hata town of Damoh in March 2019.

The Supreme Court recently took serious note of the Madhya Pradesh Police’s failure to arrest Govind Singh and directed the state’s Director General of Police (DGP) to arrest him immediately.

“We arrested Govind Singh from a bus stand in Bhind at around 6 am on Sunday,” the Special Task Force’s Additional Director General Vipin Maheshwari told PTI.

He will be taken to Damoh after completion of the due procedure, the official said.

Meanwhile, MLA Ram Bai Singh, in a video statement, claimed her husband surrendered before police at a bus stand in Bhind on Sunday morning.

She also released two videos of Govind Singh in which he was seen saying he was going to surrender to the police in Bhind.

He also claimed to be innocent and demanded a high- level inquiry into the case.

The Supreme Court earlier this month said facts of the case indicate that despite the registration of an FIR on March 15, 2019, wherein Chaurasia’s son alleged that Govind Singh was complicit in the murder of his father, no steps have been taken by the investigating authorities to arrest him.

The state police subsequently announced a reward of Rs 30,000 for information that could lead to the arrest of Govind Singh, and later enhanced the reward amount to Rs 50,000.

The SC had also asked the DGP to inquire into the allegations levelled by an additional sessions judge, who is conducting a trial in the cases involving Govind Singh.

The judge has arrayed Govind Singh as an accused in the murder case under the Criminal Procedure Code Section 319 (power to proceed against other persons appearing to be guilty of offence).

The judge in his February 8 order noted that he was being pressured by the Damoh superintendent of police and his subordinates.

Chaurasia was killed in March 2019 after he joined the Congress.

The police had then registered a murder case against Govind Singh and others.