Tribune News Service & PTI Patna, December 9
A construction company has lodged a complaint against the union minister of state for civil supplies Mohammed Taslimuddin and his son Mohammed Sarfaraz , a former minister of Bihar, for demanding Rs 2 crore as extortion. A case has been registered at Jokihat police station under Araria district in east Bihar.
Taslimuddin, a senior leader of Lalu Yadav led RJD, represents Kishanganj Lok Sabha seat and Jokihat falls under his constituency. IG (Darbhanga Zone) A.C. Verma confirmed that an FIR had been registered against the union minister.
The complainant Ajay Kumar Jha is a manager of Siliguri (West Bengal) based B.S. Construction company contracted by central public works department (CPWD) for laying the Araria-Bahadurganj-Thakurganj road in the Araria district.
Jha alleged that Taslimuddin had called him at his residence
at Araria 15-20 days ago and threatened him and other stake holders in the company with dire consequences if they did not cough up three per cent of the total project cost of Rs 64 crore, which roughly amounted to Rs two crore.
Alleging that the minister had set November 30 as the deadline for making payment, Jha claimed he had been “providing his services” to Taslimuddin and even transferred some money to his son's bank account in Delhi. He, however, did not disclose the amount.
Denying the charge, Taslimuddin described Jha as a “mafia”, who was engaged in sub-contracting of road construction works. “The charge is utterly baseless....Jha is a mafia element. He constructed a bridge in Kishanganj some time ago and it collapsed within a year of being commissioned,” said minister.
