Hassan: The fight between State Minister for Animal Husbandry A Manju and Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Hassan Rohini Sindhuri escalated further with the former seeking State Election Commissioner’s (SEC) intervention to transfer her.
DC Rohini had slapped an FIR against the minister based on media reports stating, granting of bagar hukum land was an act of ‘bribery’ during elections by the minister. On April 7, DC Sinduri wrote to the state chief election officer that Arkalgud Tahsildar Prasanna Murthy had committed an offence under Representation of People Act (RPA) 1951 and District Minister A Manju had violated the model code of conduct by colluding with him.
Minister A Manju represents Arkalgud Assembly Constituency.
The post of district in charge minister does not exist after the announcement of poll dates, DC Sinduri argued.
Though the CCTV footage do not show the minister’s visit to the Tahsildar’s office there are allegations of tampering of dates of meeting by revenue officials to allot sites to Congress party men. Based on this report filed by the Returning Officer to DC Rohini, she initiated action.
Meanwhile, in a 6-page letter to SEC Sanjeev Kumar, Manju pleaded innocence and stated that there was no violation of poll code by him. He has also added that the DC’s “malicious intent” had hurt him a lot.
He has sought replacement for DC Rohini, who is also the District Election Officer.
Meanwhile, DC Rohini has slapped 10 FIRs related to poll code violation and cancelled licenses of three liquor outlets in the district.
