JPCC sets up committee to probe cash-for-vote charges

Congress today set up a three-member committee to look into the cash-for-vote allegations against some state party leaders.
The alleged scandal had surfaced a day before the April 8 Mayoral elections.
"On the directions of Delhi (Congress leadership), the committee was set up with the brief to give a report within a week, which would be sent to Delhi," PCC president and Rajya Sabha member Pradeep Kumar Balmachu told PTI.
Former Assembly Speaker Alamgir Alam and senior party leaders Manoj Yadav and Keshav Mahato Kamlesh are the members of the committee, he added.
The Congress has set up the committee after Ranchi Mayor Rama Khalkho went missing after Rs 21.9 lakh was seized from a hotel on April 7, Superintendent of Police Manoj Ratan said.

A case was registered against Khalkho, Congress leader Niranjan Shah and one Sudhir Kumar Sahu in connection with the case.

The police apprhended Shah and Sahu and produced both before the judicial magistrate, which sent the duo to 14 days judicial custody.
The court issued arrest warrants after Khalkho continued to evade arrest.
The polling was held on April 8, but the state election commission put a hold on the counting following the cash seizure.
Khalkho, who recently joined the Congress in New Delhi, was backed by the party in the Ranchi Municipal Corporation elections, where no political party was in fray.