Cong mayoral candidate from Kashipur arrested

Congress’ mayoral candidate from Kashipur Mukta Singh and her husband Ravindra Singh were arrested Thursday in connection with a dowry harassment case lodged against them by their daughter-in-law, sparking protests by the party which termed the arrest as “politically motivated”.

Mukta Singh and her husband Ravindra Singh were arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by their daughter-in-law Priyanka on September 28, DSP Rajesh Bhatt said.

In the complaint, she accused them and three others, including their son Shashank, of harassing her for dowry, he said, adding that a case under the Dowry Act had been registered against five people.

The arrest evoked immediate reaction from the Congress which staged a dharna outside the kotwali in protest terming the arrest as politically motivated.

“This is politics of vendetta by the ruling BJP. It has arrested the couple without proper inquiry to malign the Congress,” former MP K C Singh Baba who led the protest said.

Mukta Singh was Congress’ mayoral candidate for Kashipur in the recently concluded civic body polls in which she lost to her BJP rival Usha Chaudhry by more than 5,000 votes.