Probe Bandaru's letter in Dalit scholar case: LJP MP

Lok Janshakti Party's Lok Sabha member from Bihar Chirag Paswan on Thursday demanded a probe into a letter written by union minister Bandaru Dattatreya to the HRD ministry ahead of the Dalit research scholar's suicide in Hyderabad.

The LJP is part of the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre, which is led by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Bandaru Dattatreya is a BJP leader.

"There is certainly a role of the letter written by Dattatreya in the whole affair of Rohith Vemula's suicide. Now, why and in what capacity - whether as the local member of parliament or in any other capacity - he wrote the letter and what impact this letter had needs to be probed by an independent agency," Chirag said.

"I reiterate our earlier stand that the whole suicide matter should be probed by an independent agency, which should decide who it should be probing. Those found guilty must not be spared, no matter how influential they are," the parliamentarian said.

Chirag, whose father Ram Vilas Paswan is a union minister, said that if need be, an LJP delegation would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the matter.

The LJP leader led a delegation that visited the University of Hyderabad on Tuesday in the wake of suicide by Rohith Vemula, a Dalit research scholar at the Hyderabad University, on Sunday.

Asked if Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani's role should also be probed, Chirag said it was too early to point fingers at anyone or demand their resignation.