BJP leader’s buffaloes stolen from his farmhouse
LUCKNOW: Two buffaloes belonging to former union minister of state for home affairs, Ram Lal Rahi and father of sitting BJP MLA, Suresh Rahi, were stolen from his farmhouse in Sitapur district, nearly 80 km from Lucknow on Friday-Saturday intervening night.
Ram Lal Rahi is associated with the BJP and his son is MLA from the same party from Hargaon constituency.
He was a minister during the Narasimha Rao government and remained MP from Mishrikh Lok Sabha constituency of Sitapur four times in the past.
The veteran leader lodged an FIR of theft under IPC Section 379 with Sitapur city kotwali on Saturday and asked the police to find the stolen buffaloes.
Inspector of Sitapur city kotwali, Dharmendra Singh Raghuvanshi said the complainant mentioned in the complaint that the two buffaloes worth Rs 1 lakh were stolen from his farmhouse in Hajipur locality behind Sitapur district jail.
He said the complainant alleged that unidentified thieves stole the buffaloes after trespassing the farmhouse around 12 am on Friday-Saturday night.
Singh said initial investigation hinted at the involvement of someone familiar in the theft. He said the farmhouse workers were being questioned and efforts were on to crack the case.
In a similar incident on January
31, 2014, seven buffaloes belonging to the then minister of Samajwadi Party government, Azam Khan were stolen from his farmhouse in Rampur district.
After the theft, three police personnel were suspended for dereliction in duty and the entire police force of Rampur was deployed for the recovery of buffaloes.
The police had recovered the buffaloes within 36 hours while three persons involved in the crime were arrested after 18 months. However, Ram Lal Rahi got annoyed when some news channel compared the two buffalo theft incidents.
He even issued a press communiqué, raising objection over the comparison. He said the name of his MLA son was unnecessarily being dragged into controversy when he had lodged FIR in the matter.