Court allows UP govt to withdraw case against minister

A court here has allowed the Uttar Pradesh government to withdraw a case of violation of the model code of conduct during the 2017 assembly polls against state Cabinet minister Suresh Rana.

Additional District Judge Ram Sudh Singh on Tuesday permitted the application filed by the prosecution on behalf of the state government to withdraw the case. The state government's plea said it wanted to withdraw the case "in public interest".

On the direction of Election Commission, police had registered a case against Rana, the then BJP candidate from Thanabhawan in Shamli district, on January 30, 2017 for allegedly giving inflammatory speeches during the election campaign.

Meanwhile, the UP government is also considering to withdraw four cases against BJP MLA Sangeet Som, including those related to the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, assistant district government council Subhash Saini told PTI. The district authorities have already sent a report in this regard sought by the state government, he said.

One of the four cases relates to an inflammatory video uploaded on social media in which Som was given a clean chit by the SIT probing riots cases. However, the trial in the case is still pending in the court here.

The video showing the killing of a youth had triggered communal riots in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas in 2013 in which more than 60 people were killed and over 40,000 people displaced.