Panel finds MP guilty of cheating, impersonation

A parliamentary committee has recommended that RJD MP Rajesh Kumar Manjhi be suspended for 30 sittings of the Lok Sabha and prohibited from being accompanied by either a wife or a companion in the term of the fourteenth Lok Sabha after he was found guilty of going on an official tour with a woman impersonating as his wife Pratibha Manjhi.

Manjhi represents the Gaya SC constituency in Bihar and has been found guilty of cheating and impersonation by the Committee to Inquire into Misconduct of Members of Lok Sabha, headed by Andhra MP V Kishore Chandra S Deo.

In its report, presented in the House by Deo, the committee said Manjhi was guilty of undertaking air journeys from Delhi to Mumbai along with a woman called Rani alias Meena posing as his spouse Pratibha Manjhi, on March 23, 2006 and February 21, 2007.

"These acts tantamount to cheating and impersonation which are penal offences as well as a conduct unbecoming of a member," the committee said, adding the member had "blatantly misused" the entitled facilities on a committee tour.