Patna, April 1: Buckling under the alleged pressure from the party leadership, JD(U) youth wing member Shambhu Saran Patel withdrew his complaint of threat for cut-money against food and consumer protection minister Shyam Rajak but accused the latter of still persisting with the culture of the RJD.
Before joining the JD(U), Rajak was with the RJD, whose several leaders were accused of using muscle power for extortion in the past.
Patel, also a contractor, had yesterday lodged the complaint against the minister. He accused Rajak of threatening him with dire consequences and abusing him when he refused to pay Rs 1.5 lakh commission against the Rs 20-lakh tender he had bagged for constructing an 18-bed police barrack at Rajak’s official residence on Hardinge Road.
Patel said: “I lodged the complaint against the minister at 1.30pm on Saturday. Around 7.30pm, I received a call from the party office at my home in Patliputra and was asked to report there. When I went to the party office, Bihar Legislative Council member Sanjay Singh alias Gandhi and Ravindra Singh, the state general secretary of the JD(U), asked me to withdraw the complaint against the minister. They told me that the matter should be solved within the party.”
He said: “Both the leaders pressurised me not to take the matter any further and suggested I should withdraw the complaint against the minister. Being a small leader, I did not have any other choice but to agree to withdraw the complaint. Around 9.30pm, both the leaders accompanied me to the Secretariat police station and I withdrew my application.” Sanjay, however, denied to have pressurised Patel to withdraw his complaint and accompanying him to the police station. “It is completely baseless that we pressurised him to withdraw the complaint. In fact, I do not even know that person.” Sanjay also said: “I did not visit the police station.”
When The Telegraph told Sanjay that he and Ravindra were visible in the TV footage of a news channel, the Legislative Council member said: “I had visited the Secretariat police station for other work but surely not regarding the issue which you are talking about. Do not relate my visit with this case. I had some important work over there.”
Ravindra was not available for comment. But a senior police officer of the Secretariat police station said both the leaders were present with the complainant (Patel) when he withdrew his application.
Though Patel buckled under pressure, he candidly said today that Rajak threatened, abused and thrashed him when he refused to pay Rs 1.5 lakh cut-money against the tender he bagged. He also said Rajak came to the JD(U) from the RJD and was keen to practice the culture prevalent during the Lalu Prasad’s regime.
Patel said: “He (Rajak) has come from the RJD and wants to maintain the culture prevalent during the Lalu’s era. Such people will never improve because they do not think anything except looting the money of others. If anything happens to me, Rajak will be responsible for that.”
Rajak refused to comment. “I have nothing to say on the issue of threatening and thrashing any man,” the minister told The Telegraph.
The state disciplinary committee head of the party and JD(U) MLA from Barh, Gyanendra Singh Gyanu, termed the allegation of Patel baseless.
