2011 Bharatpur communal riots: CBI set to charge Congress & BJP MLAs

NEW DELHI: CBI has finalised a chargesheet against two Rajasthan MLAs, one from the Congress and other from the BJP, and is recommending strong departmental action against two top officers regarding communal riots at Bharatpur in Rajasthan in 2011 that left 10 Muslims dead.

A senior CBI official said the charge-sheet would be filed soon, as early as the end of this month, in the communal rioting case in which the Ashok Gehlot government had come under the scanner in 2011. This now comes ahead of the assembly elections due in Rajasthan in November.

“The charge-sheet will be filed against MLAs Zahida Khan of the Congress from the Kaman constituency and BJP’s Anita Singh from the Nagar constituency in Bharatpur district in Rajasthan and many other private persons with evidence emerging of their involvement.

CBI is also recommending strict disciplinary proceedings against the then DM Krishna Kunal and then SP of Bharatpur district, Hinglaj Dan, for not being able to control the situation. Though the court had asked CBI to arrest the MLAs before chargesheeting them, both MLAs have secured anticipatory bail and hence will now be straight-away chargesheeted by the CBI,” a CBI official said. The Gehlot government had suspended the DM and the SP soon after the riots in 2011.