Ranchi: Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda on Thursday alleged that the Monday incident when he was assulted inside a jail here was a conspiracy to eliminate him.
"It was a conspiracy to kill me in the jail. When I fell down after being beaten up by prison guards, they continued to rain baton blows on my chest. I was taken to hospital three hours after the incident," Koda told reporters at the hospital. The MP, who suffered a fracture in his arm, had first made the allegations after Monday`s incident at Birsa Central Jail. "If the fate of a former chief minister and Lok Sabha member can be such inside the jail, imagine the situation of common persons out there," Koda said.
Meanwhile, Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda said his government was ready for a high-level judicial probe into the incident.
Munda said that he had already announced a judicial inquiry yesterday while returning from Delhi. "However, if Koda and his supporters want a probe by a retired judge of High Court, the state government would have no objection in this," he said.
Munda had yesterday announced a probe by a retired district judge but today Koda and his supporters demanded a probe by a retired judge of High Court.
The Chief Minister said the government would not tolerate such incidents and make sure that the culprit are brought to justice. At the same time he also cautioned against playing politics on this issue. Meanwhile, two FIRs were registered at Ranchi Sadar police station in connection with assault on former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda inside a central jail here on Monday. The police, on the basis of Koda`s complaint lodged on Monday against the jail administration and unknown men, registered the FIR under various IPC sections like voluntarily causing hurt, voluntarily causing grievous hurt and wrongfully restraining any person, the sources said.
In a counter FIR, two inmates of the Birsa Munda Central Jail lodged complaints against Koda and others under various IPC sections like rioting, voluntarily causing hurt and wrongfully restrain.
The inmates countered that Koda and his accomplices were the instigators and assaulted them.
Koda, who suffered a fracture in his right hand and was now in a hospital, had yesterday demanded converting his complaint into FIR.
PTI