Bihar:Raghvendra Pratap Singh to join BJP
Dumped by the RJD and finding few takers among HAM or other parties, Raghvendra Pratap Singh has now decided to join BJP at a function to be presided over by Uttar Pradesh deputy CM, Keshav Prasad Maurya in Patna on Sunday.
“The same people whom I helped and was associated with for long, ditched me. That had made me anxious of my political future”, Singh, a former minister in the Lalu Prasad-Rabri Devi cabinets, said.
He said, he found the Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be performing well, the reason why he had chosen to go with the BJP.
Singh had fought on a Samajwadi Party ticket after the RJD refused to give him one for the assembly polls in 2015. he contested from his traditional constituency of Barhara in Bhojpur.
“I feel, people are not happy with the performance of the present state government , while the performance of the Central government, especially measures taken for poor, have been appreciated by all. At present BJP is the only party in which people have hope”, he said.
Singh has represented Barhara in state legislative assembly six times since 1977. He was minister too between 1997 to 2005.
Meanwhile, former minister Samrat Choudhary also decided to join the BJP.
The Bihar school examination board (BSEB) on Saturday honoured a Patna police team led by senior superintendent of police (SSP) for busting a racket that involved duping students in the name of increasing their marks in board examinations and minting money in the process. Cash awards worth ₹1.40 lakh was also given to the cops.
BSEB chairman-cum-divisional commissioner Anand Kishor gave away the citations and awards at a function held in the board office.
Meanwhile, the Patna police on Saturday arrested three persons from Rahincha village under Seikhopur police station of Sheikhpura on similar charges. A special team was constituted by SSP Manu Maharaaj, which arrested Chandan Kumar, Shantu Choudhary and Subhash Kumar in connection with the case. Two persons, however, managed to escape, the SSP said.
“We have been receiving complaints from students and their guardians about such phone calls from unknown persons demanding money to increase their marks in the board examinations”, the SSP added.
Investigations pointed to connivance of some BSEB employees with the fraudsters through either data entry, examination section or registration section records.
It came to light that mobile numbers of examinees were also entered during the registration process.
Callers posed as BSEB employees and directed the students to deposit ₹ 6000-8000 in different accounts.
At least 13 separate FIRs have been lodged in Patna, Saran, Jamui, Siwan, Sheohar, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Khagaria and Sasaram districts in such cases, police sources said.
However, a section of senior police officers expressed displeasure over sideling the efforts of Sheohar police and its SP Paras Nath Mishra, who had busted a similar racket running in the board with its links reaching Sheikhpura. The Sheohar police, on a tip-off, had on May 15 arrested two persons – father and son – on the charge of fraudulently realising money to the tune of Rs 6 lakh on the pretext of ensuring success for Inter examinees.
The duo used to inform examinees with specific roll code, registration number and roll number that the marks obtained by them were short of the minimum required to pass and offered to ‘set things right’ if they deposited a certain amount in a certain bank account.
