Sugar mill-owner alleges BJP MP demanded Rs five lakh for Hunkar Rally

Patna,(BiharTimes): A sugar mill owner of Riga in Sitamarhi district has lodged an FIR against sitting BJP MP from Sheohar, Rama Devi, accusing her of demanding Rs five lakh as ‘donation’ for proposed Hunkar Rally of the party in Patna on October 27.

The case has sparked off a major controversy with the ruling Janata Dal (United) spokesman, Rajeev Ranjan, saying that law should take its own course.

However, Rama Devi, refuted the allegation and has lodged an FIR against the sugar mill owner, claiming he had misbehaved with her and threatened her.

She said that since she had always championed the cause of farmers the sugar mill owner has cooked up a false case against her.

The BJP leader alleged that it was a conspiracy to malign the image of the party ahead of Narendra Modi’s rally.

Sitamarhi superintendent of police P K Sinha said call details of both the MP and sugar mill-owner are being procured to verify their respective claims. He confirmed that both the parties had lodged FIRs against each other.

In the FIR lodged at Riga police station the sugar mill chairman Omprakash Dhanuka has charged the MP with calling him up on three consecutive days for demanding Rs five lakh to make arrangements for rally participants.

He said Rama Devi had first asked him to pay Rs 10 lakh as donation for Modi’s rally but subsequently reduced the demand to Rs five lakh. He said she asked him repeatedly to pay this sum or be ready to face consequences. She made her last call at 11 am on October 8, he added.

The mill owner said he registered an FIR against Rama Devi only after learning that she had lodged a case against him.

Rama Devi told the media in Motihari that she had called Dhanuka to discuss cane growers’ problems. But he used foul language and threatened him.

Rama Devi is the widow of former Bihar minister Braj Bihari Prasad, who was killed in 1998. As her husband was in RJD she too got Assembly ticket and won the election. She even served as minister in the Rabri Devi cabinet, but later crossed over to the BJP.

Her husband had an image of a strongman of Champaran belt.