By IANS,
Chandigarh : Haryana Transport Minister Om Prakash Jain and Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) Zile Ram Sharma were forced to quit Thursday after their names were linked to the murder of a village headman.
“The minister and the CPS have both resigned after their resignations were sought by the chief minister (Bhupinder Singh Hooda). The resignations have been forwarded to the Haryana governor for immediate acceptance,” a state government spokesman told IANS here.
Jain and Sharma have figured in the murder of village headman Karam Singh, whose stabbed body was found near the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) in Karnal Tuesday.
Just a day before his murder, the village headman, who was in his 50s, had submitted a written complaint to Hooda and the police against the minister and the CPS about a fraud committed on him.
Karam Singh had accused Jain and Sharma of duping him of nearly Rs.13 lakh on the pretext of providing government jobs to his son and two nephews. But they neither provided the jobs nor returned the money, his complaint said.
Karam Singh also sent a written complaint to the Chief Minister’s Office Monday.
His son, Rajinder Singh, alleged that his father was killed at the behest of Jain and Sharma.
“My father had left the home for Zile Ram Sharma’s house on Tuesday morning. He called me after sometime and said that he was going to PWD (public works department) rest house with Zile Ram’s aides. Thereafter, he did not contact us and in the afternoon we got news about his murder,” said Rajinder Singh Wednesday.
“I am very sure that my father was murdered by Zile Ram’s men. He was furious as my father had complained against him and the transport minister. We want registration of murder case against them (Jain and Sharma). The police are not cooperating with us,” he had said.
Haryana Police had registered a murder case against “unknown persons” and started their investigation.