'Those facing allegations should reply': Chirag Paswan on Prashant Kishor's murder charges

Patna, Sep 30 (IANS) A day after Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor levelled murder allegations against Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and Rural Work Department Minister Ashok Choudhary, Union Food Processing Minister Chirag Paswan said that those leaders facing the serious allegations should respond to the charges.

“Prashant Kishor is making a series of allegations against NDA leaders. Whether he has proof or is merely making claims is a matter of investigation,” Chirag told reporters on Tuesday.

Drawing a parallel with Delhi politics, he remarked, “We have seen similar politics earlier when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) levelled big allegations before coming to power but failed to act on those names later.”

Chirag added, “I don’t know whether Prashant Kishor is presenting facts or not. Those who are facing allegations should reply. Some of them have already filed defamation cases against him.”

On Monday, Prashant Kishor accused Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary of being linked to the 1995 Tarapur massacre, in which seven members of the Kushwaha community were killed.

Prashant Kishor launched a scathing attack on Samrat Chaudhary and demanded the immediate dismissal and arrest of Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary in connection with the 1995 Tarapur murder case.

Kishor alleged that Samrat Chaudhary had manipulated his age in official documents to avoid conviction in the case, where seven people of the Kushwaha community were murdered.

Kishor produced documents claiming that in case number 44/1995, the accused was identified as Rakesh Kumar alias Samrat Chandra Maurya alias Samrat Chaudhary, son of Shakuni Chaudhary, with a recorded date of birth of May 1, 1981.

This, Kishor said, led the court to treat him as a minor and release him from jail at the time.

However, in 2020, Samrat Chaudhary declared his age as 51 in an affidavit submitted to the Election Commission, which would make him 26 years old in 1995, not a minor, he said.

Kishor further alleged that Samrat Chaudhary’s name had also surfaced in the Shilpi-Gautam rape and murder case, which was investigated by the CBI.

He also targeted Minister Ashok Choudhary with corruption charges involving multi-crore contracts. Both leaders have strongly denied the allegations.

--IANS

ajk/dan