Bihar
Hours after assuming office Bihar Minister Mewalal Choudhary resigns over corruption charges
Patna/IBNS: Bihar Education Minister Mewalal Choudhary, who took oath three days ago as part of Nitish Kumar's 14-member cabinet, resigned today, barely a few hours after assuming office following a corruption case flagged by opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal, said media reports.
The resignation was accepted by Governor Phagu Chauhan on Chief Minister nitish Kumar's advice.
A case in connection with irregularities in the appointments to posts of assistant professor and junior scientists as the vice-chancellor of Bhagalpur agriculture university was filed in 2017 against Mewalal Choudhary, who is a JD(U) MLA from Bihar's Tarapur Assembly constituency. Following the FIR, Choudhary was expelled from the party.
Investigations were conducted against him after the approval of President Ram Nath Kovind, who was the Governor of Bihar at that time.
According to a Hindustan Times report a former IPS officer Amitabh Kumar Das wrote a letter to the DGP on Tuesday, seeking a probe into the mysterious death of Choudhary's wife and former MLA Neeta on June 2, 2019.
The 1994-batch IPS officer had demanded investigation suspecting that Neeta might have learned about corruption in Sabour agriculture university, the report added.
Chaudhary had threatened to file a defamation case against Das.
Media reports said a chargesheet is yet to be filed against Choudhary.
However, Choudhary had said filing of a case against someone doesn't make them guilty of the alleged crimes and that he had not mentioned the case in his election affidavit as the case was ongoing.
He also said that cases were pending against many candidates in fray in the Bihar elections.
Hitting out at RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who had been spearheading the attack against him, he said Yadav had several corruption cases lined against him and he should not be the one to point fingers.
After Mewalal Choudhary took oath as a cabinet minister, Tejashwi Yadav sharpened his attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar saying that he has granted exemption to loot and robbery by appointing Mewalal Chaudhary.
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