Sushil Modi points out warrant pending against new law minister, Nitish says not aware

Patna: A day after the expansion of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s new cabinet, a controversy erupted in the state on Wednesday over induction of RJD leader Kartikeya Singh as the law minister, with the BJP claiming that an arrest warrant in a kidnapping case was pending against him.

Kumar, when approached by reporters, said he had no information in the matter.

Demanding Singh’s immediate dismissal, senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Modi sought to know how someone “who was supposed to surrender before a court in connection with a kidnapping case got inducted in the state cabinet”.

He said that Singh was an accused in a 2014 kidnapping case, along with 16 others, including former Mokama MLA Anant Singh.

According to sources in the BJP, Kartikeya Singh was supposed to surrender in Danapur court on August 16, but, instead, he showed up at the Raj Bhavan to take oath as a minister.

Rejecting BJP’s allegations, however, a senior RJD leader maintained that Singh has been granted interim protection till September 1 by the court.

On Tuesday, shortly after the cabinet expansion, Modi had alleged that several ministers in the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ government have criminal records.

“Surendra Yadav, Ramanand Yadav and Lalit Yadav. Who are these people? Even today if Surendra Yadav takes a walk in Gaya, people feel scared. Lalit Yadav was charged with illegally detaining and torturing a Dalit. Ramanand Yadav was once called the ‘don of Patna’. What message does Nitishji want to give by including such people in the cabinet?” he had asked.