Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday demanded the sacking of Madhya Pradesh Urban Administration Minister Bhuppendra Siingh and raised a string of allegations against him in connection with the murder of a Dalit youth in Sagar district.
Digvijaya visited the kin of Nitin Ahirwar aka Lalu, who was allegedly beaten to death on August 24 allegedly by a group of people in Barodia Nonagir village following an old enmity.
Bhuppendra Siingh is the MLA from the Khurai constituency where the incident occurred.
Digvijaya alleged that police suppressed the fact that deceased Nitin's sister was harassed in 2019 by some people.
"But due to pressure from the minister, this act was not mentioned and the FIR was filed only for assaulting (the sister) in 2019. If the administration had taken strict action then, no one would have dared to murder her brother," he alleged while speaking to reporters.
He said the accused persons in the 2019 case were arrested and released by the court.
“There is pressure from the minister. Police are behaving like his slaves. Why was no action taken? For four years from 2019 to 2023, pressure was put on the family for compromise (in the 2019 case),” Digvijaya claimed.
He also alleged that the murder victim's mother was pressured to compromise and threatened before her son was killed.
"BJYM leader Ankit Thakur's name was not mentioned in the FIR despite the family of the deceased stating so in their complaint," Digvijaya alleged.
He also alleged that murder victim Nitin's elder brother Vishnu was assaulted and made to lick shoes in 2019.
Police have already arrested eight of the accused named in the FIR and a search for three to four others wanted for the murder was underway, an officer said on Monday.