Prime Minister Narendra Modi restructured his ministry on 7th July. After this, the media made a profile of all the ministers according to their educational qualifications and being the representative of a wide variety of social groups. However, the media subdued and quietened the quality of having criminal cases. It was because a few of Modi’s ministers had a lot of criminal cases on their portfolios. In total, the media has found out five ministers who are related to the most number of criminal cases.
L Murugan- the first of Modi’s ministers
L Murugan is a lawyer who became a politician. He is the minister of state for fisheries, dairying, and animal husbandry. He is also the minister of state for information and broadcasting. Although he himself is a man of law, there are 21 criminal cases on his back. The respective people filed all the cases in 2020, the year he became BJP state president.
In 14 of his cases, the cause was his negligent act which was likely to spread infection of life-threatening diseases. Another 4’s reason was malignant acts which could also spread infection of life-threatening diseases. Once the police held him because he launched the “Vetri Vel Yatra” without the permission of the police. Another time, he violated the covid guidelines by gathering 80 people in the house of a girl set ablaze by AIADMK.
He also faces 11 charges because he disobeyed the orders of a public servant. 17 of the cases were because he was a member of an unlawful assembly, 2 for going into a riot with a deadly weapon. The last one was because he caused a public nuisance.
Nitish Pramanik- the second of Modi’s ministers
This Member of Parliament is 35 and from Coochbehar. He became the minister of state for home affairs after the last election. He has a total of 13 criminal cases on his back. The first case against him was in 2009 for robbing a jewelry store in Alipurduar. After that, the media charged him with serious crimes like murder, rioting, dacoity, outraging a woman’s modesty, theft, possessing illegal weapons, and carrying explosives.
“In light of his criminal activities”, his first party Trinamool expelled him. After he joined BJP, the media charged him with an attempt to murder and wrongful restraint.
John Barla- the third of the lot
Jhon Barla, a class 8 dropout, is a minister of state for minority affairs. As his name suggests, he is a Christian. In total, he faces nine cases. In two of them, the police charged him with criminal intimidation, an attempt to murder, and theft as well. The other two cases were for wrongful restraint, unlawful assembly, and criminal conspiracy.
He was found possessing an armed weapon and explosive substances in an instance. Before becoming a union minister, he demanded statehood for North Bengal. The Trinamool Chatra Parishad filed an FIR against him because of this. They said that his demand was ‘anti-national’ and would ‘provoke the people of Bengal’.
Shantanu Thakur- the fourth of the group
Mr. Thakur is the minister of state for ports, shipping, and waterways. In six cases he voluntarily caused grievous hurt. He is charged with insulting a woman’s modesty and voluntarily hurting a public servant to move him away from his duty. The media accused him of impersonating someone and tarnishing the reputation of another person.
Pankaj Chaudhury- the last of Modi’s ministers
This person has come into position in the Lok Sabha six times. He became a minister of state for finance on 7th July 2021 just as Modi reorganized his ministry. A total of 15 criminal cases are on his back and he is one of the only four with a charge of an attempt to murder.
He has six serious crimes three of which are kidnapping, unlawfully influencing an election, criminal intimidation, and attempts to murder. The others are for wrongful restraint, rioting with a deadly weapon, bidding to commit theft, wrongful confinement and also being a part of an unlawful assembly.
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