Patna: A Congress party lawmaker who is said to be in the race for the Bihar state unit president has been booked for extortion, assault and wrongful confinement of a government official.
Police said Congress lawmaker Sanjay Kumar Tiwari has been named as an accused in the case after he allegedly assaulted an executive engineer of the building construction department, Rajendra Prasad, for failing to pay extortion. The lawmaker represents the Buxur seat in the Bihar assembly.
In his complaint to the police, the victim said the lawmaker went to his home earlier this week and sought extortion. According to him, the lawmaker also hurled abuses at him for not giving contracts to his supporters.
“When I protested, the lawmaker locked me in a room and beat me badly. He freed me only after I promised to oblige him,” the victim engineer said in his complaint petition.
The lawmaker, however, termed the case as politically motivated and fabricated. “I had visited his home as he didn’t entertain my phone call,” the lawmaker claimed.
Police said they were investigating the case and “action will be initiated under the law,” deputy superintendent of police, Buxur, Shaishav Yadav said.
Strangely, the lawmaker comes under controversy at a time when the state Congress unit is plagued by a serious crisis, with a section of party leaders raising a banner of revolt against the central party leadership. A change of guard in the state unit remains just a matter of time.
Tiwari is one of the leaders who have been jockeying for power and has jumped in the race for the state Congress president. “I request the Congress’ vice-president Rahul Gandhi to give chance to the youths in the organisation,” Tiwari had said.
Earlier, an extortion case was lodged against a ruling Janata Dal United (JD-U) lawmaker Shyam Bahadur Singh, who was accused of demanding Rs2 million as extortion from two doctors in Siwan district.
