Prashant Kishor demands arrest of Bihar Deputy CM over 1995 murder case

Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor Monday, alleged that Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary is an accused in a case involving the 1995 murder of seven people, and has demanded his immediate dismissal and arrest from the Nitish Kumar-led government.

Speaking to the media in Patna, he claimed that the BJP leader should be removed from his position and arrested in connection with the case in Tarapur, where seven individuals from the Kushwaha caste were allegedly killed. He said that Samrat Choudhary was a suspect in the case.

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Kishor further stated that, according to documents submitted to the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Rakesh Kumar alias Samrat Chandra Maurya alias Samrat Choudhary, son of Shakuni Choudhary, had declared his date of birth as May 1, 1981. This led to him being classified as a minor at the time of the incident and subsequently released from jail. However, Prashant Kishor pointed out that in Choudhary’s 2020 election affidavit, he stated his age as 51, which would make him 26 years old in 1995, thereby disqualifying the minor claim.

Referring to the Rs 100 crore defamation notice issued by JD(U) leader Ashok Choudhary, Prashant Kishor demanded an apology within seven days. Failing that, he said, the Jan Suraaj Party would expose undisclosed assets worth Rs 500 crore linked to Choudhary.

He also alleged that Choudhary’s department had issued contracts worth over Rs 20,000 crore in the past eight months, claiming that a 5 per cent commission was taken on each one. Additionally, he alleged that another 0.5 per cent commission was collected at the time of payment release. He claimed that the recent recovery of cash from an engineer’s residence was linked to these dealings.

“In our next press conference, we will present individuals who have actually paid these 5 per cent commissions,” he asserted.

Addressing questions about the funding of the Jan Suraaj movement, Kishor clarified, “In the last three years, I earned Rs 241 crore through business consulting. This was legitimate income from advisory services. I paid Rs 30.95 crore in GST and Rs 20 crore in income tax. Out of the remaining amount, I donated Rs 98.75 crore to Jan Suraaj.”

He emphasised that he was investing his hard-earned money, stating he had once charged Rs 11 crore for two hours of advisory work for Navayuga Construction. “That’s the power of Saraswati for a boy from Bihar,” he said.

He also added that other Jan Suraaj members first donate from their own earnings before seeking contributions from the public.