Prashant Kishor at the press conference (PTI)
NEW DELHI: Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor on Monday launched a scathing attack on Bihar deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary, alleging that he is an accused in a 1995 murder case involving the killing of seven people in Tarapur and should be arrested immediately.At a press conference, Kishor referred to the decades-old case and claimed that all seven victims were from the Kushwaha community – the same caste Choudhary identifies with politically. “Samrat Choudhary is an accused in the murder of seven people… He should be removed from his position and arrested immediately,” Kishor said, adding, “It should be a lesson for people practising caste politics in Bihar.” He further alleged that Choudhary had used forged documents to claim he was a minor at the time of the incident, thereby securing relief from the court. “He submitted a school admit card showing his date of birth as 1981, which made him 15 years old in 1995. Based on this, the magistrate gave him relief,” Kishor claimed.However, he pointed to a contradiction in the deputy CM’s 2020 election affidavit, which declared his age as 51. “If he was 51 in 2020, he would have been 26 in 1995. So how can a 26-year-old get relief as a minor? A person accused of murder should be in jail, not holding a constitutional office,” he argued. Kishor called on Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, the Governor, and the union government to intervene. “There can’t be a bigger insult to the rule of law than a person who should be in jail sitting as the state’s deputy chief minister,” he said.In a separate charge, Kishor asked rural works department minister Ashok Choudhary to withdraw a Rs 100 crore legal notice served against him. He warned that failure to do so would prompt him to release documents related to Ashok Choudhary’s alleged property holdings.Kishor also asked Samrat Choudhary to clarify whether the central bureau of investigation had ever investigated his role in the high-profile Shilpi Jain-Gautam Singh murder case.The Jan Suraaj leader warned of legal recourse, stating, “If police do not arrest him and CM Nitish Kumar does not take action against Choudhary, the Jan Suraaj will move to the court and also make a petition before the Governor, requesting him to dismiss Choudhary from the state cabinet,” The allegations come as political temperatures rise in poll-bound Bihar, with Kishor continuing to position Jan Suraaj as a challenger to the ruling NDA.As of now, there has been no official response from either Samrat Choudhary or the state government on the matter.
