Currently on bail, Shashi Bhushan Mehta, who was in JMM, joined the BJP recently with fanfare.
NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party is in the eye of storm in Jharkhand for inducting a murder accused Shashi Bhushan Mehta, who is currently on bail, into the party on the eve of Assembly elections. Mehta, who was in Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), joined the BJP recently with fanfare, leading to uproar.
Mehta is an accused in the Suchitra Mishra murder case. Her son Abhishek Mishra has now knocked the doors of Home Minister and BJP president Amit Shah, alleging they feared threat to their life and asking him to do “justice”. The Jharkhand BJP, on the other hand, has defended Mehta’s induction, saying he has not been held guilty so far and therefore it should not be made an issue.
Jharkhand is scheduled to go for Assembly elections in November-December and according to sources, the party is planning to give ticket to Mehta from the Panki constituency in Palamau district. While the issue has given fodder to the Opposition Congress, even many BJP leaders have also questioned, though privately, the party leadership’s rationale to induct Mehta.
Ruckus erupted at the BJP headquarters during the “induction ceremony” of Mehta into the party last week, in the presence of its state unit president Laxman Gilua. Abhishek, his brother Ashutosh and aunt Lalita Pandey were manhandled during the event following which they got injured. The Ranchi Police have not even registered an FIR in the case.
Mehta is the director of Oxford Public School in Ranchi, while Suchitra Mishra worked there as warden. Her battered body was found by a roadside in the state capital in May 2012. Mehta was arrested for his alleged involvement in the murder the same month.
As BJP prepared for Mehta’s induction, Mishra’s family members stormed the dais, shouted slogans against him and got into a scuffle with his supporters. Mishra’s sons, their maternal aunt Lalitha and other relatives reached the party’s Harmu headquarters with placards demanding justice. They also submitted a memorandum against Mehta’s induction to senior BJP leaders. However, he was inducted into the party with fanfare.
Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Abhishek Mishra said: “The news of Mehta’s induction into the party came as a rude shock to us. I am myself a member of the BJP. How can a party with a difference induct such a man into the party? He (Mehta) has done everything to derail the case, using his power, so that we do not get justice. But we have faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.”
“Soon after the incident, the local Argora police came to the BJP headquarters. We handed over a complaint to them. But so far, they have not lodged an FIR. My ‘Maami’ (aunt), brother and myself got injured in the incident,” said Abhishek, who is getting treatment from the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS).
Interestingly, Mehta is also involved in a case of irregularity in the Central University, Ranchi, in which the CBI has filed a chargesheet against him, besides others. Mehta has contested the Assembly elections thrice in the past—once as an Independent and twice on the JMM ticket—but lost all the time.
Reacting to the incident, senior state Congress leader Alok Dubey said: “The BJP says it will get 65 out of 81 seats and this they want to achieve through people like Mehta. The party also inducted a member of the coal mafia, Manager Rai, whom they want to give ticket from Ramgarh, and Dhullu Mahto, who is an MLA from Baghmara and has several cases against him. BJP has become the favourite party of rapists, murderers and mafia people.”
Jharkhand BJP spokesperson Deen Dayal Burnwal, however, said: “Mehta has not been convicted and guilty in the case. In a democratic set up, everyone has the right to join a political party. I would like to question the Mishra family as to why they did not protest when Mehta was in the JMM. We respect their right to air their grievance, but the way they protested at the party headquarters is not fair.”