By IANS,
Ranchi : Jharkhand health minister Bhanu Pratap Sahi, who got married last week, has been accused by a woman he was engaged to last year of demanding dowry to marry her.
Shipra Singh, a resident of Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh, alleged that Sahi, who had got engaged to her February 2007, did not marry her as her father was not able to arrange the dowry demanded by Sahi.
According to a report in a local newspaper, Shipra said Sahi had demanded Rs.5 million in cash and a luxury car from her family.
“Sahi and I exchanged rings in February 2007 in presence of our family members. After the engagement, he demanded Rs.5 million cash and a car. When we insisted for the marriage, Sahi made some excuse or the other,” Shipra was quoted as saying in the report.
She has also lodged a complaint against Sahi in a Rewa court for having demanded dowry.
Denying the charges, Sahi said he had not demanded any dowry, and informed the girl’s family last year itself that the marriage was not possible.
His father, Hemendra Pratap Sahi claimed Shipra’s family were trying to blackmail them. “It is a move to tarnish our image. We do not want to speak on the issue,” he said, adding they would fight the case in court.
Sahi Friday married Chani, daughter of an engineer of Uttar Pradesh.