Former minister Ramanand Prasad Singh acquitted of graft charges

Muzaffarpur , Jan 24 Former minister Ramanand Prasad Singh, who had to quit the Nitish Kumar government barely days after being sworn in following charges of corruption, was acquitted by a special vigilance court here today.
Singh, the JD(U) MLA from Parbatta, was acquitted by special vigilance judge, Muzaffarpur , Ajit Kant Sharan, who held that the prosecution had failed to establish the charge against him.

" Singh stands acquitted in the case for want of evidence as the prosecution has failed to establish the charge beyond doubt,"the judge said.

Singh was accused of misappropriation of public money to the tune of Rs 46,000 in purchase of pipes when he was fuel expert at the Kanti Thermal Power Station near here in 1990.

He was inducted as minister during the expansion of Nitish Kumar ministry last year and allotted Transport portfolio.

However, he resigned from the government barely days after being sworn in following reports in the media about the vigilance case pending against him.

"I stand vindicated.I was falsely implicated in the case at the behest of a senior minister in the erstwhile Lalu Prasad government. Today&aposs judgement is not not my victory alone but the triumph of the principles being followed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar," Singh told PTI.
Source: PTI