The Chhattisgarh Assembly witnessed uproar on the first day of its monsoon session today over the alleged suicide of an automobile trader who was questioned by the CBI in a sex CD case purportedly featuring a state minister.
Thirty-five Congress MLAs were suspended after they trooped into the Well of the House demanding a discussion on the issue.
The issue stalled the proceedings of the House on two occasions before it was finally adjourned for the day.
Raising the matter, state Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel alleged that automobile trader Rinku Khanuja was found dead in his office under mysterious circumstances on June 5.
Khanuja (40) was questioned as part of an ongoing CBI investigation into the circulation and distribution of a sex CD purportedly featuring a state minister.
Khanuja was questioned by the CBI from June 1-3 and also on June 5, Baghel said, adding that the role of the CBI and the state police was suspicious.
He, along with Leader of Opposition T S Singhdeo, party MLAs Dhanendra Sahu, Amarjeet Bhagat and Satyanarayan Sharma, then demanded a discussion on the matter by moving an adjournment motion notice.
However, the adjournment motion notice was rejected by Speaker Gaurishankar Agrawal citing that the CBI was a central investigation agency on which neither the state government nor the state Legislative Assembly had any authority.
This led to sloganeering from the Congress' side demanding a probe into Khanuja's death.
Baghel said that proper forensic investigations were not conducted into the suicide and nor was the spot, where the incident took place, sealed by police.
The Speaker then adjourned the House for five minutes.
When it resumed, Baghel said Khanuja's wife had submitted a written application to the Superintendent of Police, Raipur, to conduct an impartial investigation into Khanuja's death.
Baghel once again demanded a discussion on the motion but it was rejected.
Congress MLAs then trooped into the Well of the House and were automatically suspended as per the rules of the Assembly.
The Congress MLAs, however, sat on the floor and continued shouting slogans.
After announcing the name of the 35 Congress MLAs who had been suspended, the Speaker adjourned the House for five minutes for the second time.
When the House resumed, the Speaker asked the Congress MLAs, who were still protesting in the Well, to leave the House.
Their suspension was revoked by the Speaker after they left the House which was then adjourned till Tuesday.
In October last year, a video, allegedly involving Public Works Department minister Rajesh Munat, had surfaced after the arrest of senior journalist Vinod Verma in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad. '
Verma was granted bail by a CBI court in Raipur in December last year.
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