Mayawati conspired to send me to jail: Ex-DSP

Lucknow, Oct 3 (UNI) Former Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and chairman of Uttar Pradesh Congress RTI cell Shailendra Singh has charged chief minister Mayawati of hatching a conspiracy to send him to jail for raising issues related to the misuse of public funds in the construction of Ambedkar Memorial.

Mr Singh, who was arrested here on September 25 midnight on charges of violence at the State Information Commissioner (SIC) office and later released on bail, said here he would move to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and other organisation to raise objection on the illegal manner the state police arrested him on fake charges.

''' Mayawati government is annoyed with me for filing a PIL on the Ambedkar Memorial,'' he said, adding that at any cost they would fight the case against the government.

Talking to mediapersons, Mr Singh said very soon he would move a petition in the Allahabad High Court demanding dismissal of the appointment of four commissioners in the state RTI by Ms Mayawati. ''Under the law, the RTI commissioners should have been appointed after an approval from the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Mulayam Singh Yadav. But they did not do so, besides all the four commissioners were junior advocates in the High Court which also violates the norms,'' he said.

The Congress RTI cell chief also demanded that the government should immediately declare Lucknow district jail as a national monument in the name of great freedom fighter Ashafaq Ullah Khan and Ram Prasad Bismil.

'' Both these freedom fighters, who sacrificed their lives for the country should be honoured by identifying the jail here as national monument as both of them spent several years in this jail,'' he added.

Mr Singh said the government was trying to grab the land of the jail and even ordered vaccating of the entire area by January 15, 2009. ''If a statue and monument of living person like Mayawati could be made, then why not of the freedom fighters,'' he questioned.

UNI MB JAS MIR KP1855