Lucknow, Oct 3 (IANS) The Congress party's Right to Information Task Force chairman Shailendra Singh Friday alleged that his arrest was a pre-planned move by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and that he was victimised for his effort to expose the huge expenditure on rebuilding a memorial dedicated to B.R. Ambedkar.
A former provincial police service officer, Singh was arrested in the early hours of Sep 26 for allegedly creating a ruckus in the state chief information commissioner's (CIC) office and manhandling senior CIC officials.
He was granted bail Wednesday. He claimed he was kept in the general cell of the Lucknow district jail and spent six sleepless nights due to a threat to his life.
'The way the police broke into my house and booked me under Section 7 of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act itself highlights the fear factor of the state government due to my PIL on the memorial,' Singh told reporters at a press conference.
'The PIL was transferred to the Supreme Court in January and I was to appear before the court to file a counter affidavit September 29,' he added.
'It was due to this, the CM (Mayawati) planned my arrest just to prevent me from exposing her,' Singh alleged.
The Congress also questioned the appointment of the acting CIC and the three other information commissioners of the state.
'According to law, the chief minister can make these appointments jointly in the presence of a cabinet minister and the leader of the opposition. However, the appointments were made without any discussions with Mulayam Singh Yadav who is the leader of the opposition,' Singh claimed.
'We will soon challenge the appointment of the CIC and three of his subordinates in the Supreme Court and will file more applications under the RTI to expose how the chief minister (Mayawati) is utilising public funds for her personal projects and prosperity,' said Ram Kumar Bhargava, UP Congress spokesperson.
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