Patna, July 10
(Agencies)

Deenanath Baitha and Karoo Ram after being rescued from the house of Bihar Minister of State for Cooperatives Lalit Yadav, where they were allegedly kept in illegal confinement and tortured. (Photo: PTI)

EMBARRASSED BY the charges of torture of two Dalits by Minister of State for Cooperatives Lalit Yadav, Chief Minister Rabri Devi on Monday promptly sacked him.

Governor V C Pande dismissed Mr Yadav, who has been absconding, at the advice of the chief minister, a Raj Bhawan spokesman said.

Mr Yadav has been charged with torturing and confining a truck driver Deenanath Baitha and cleaner Karoo Ram in the outhouse of his official residence here for over a month.

A case was registered against Mr Yadav, his cousin and four others on Saturday under prevention of attrocities on Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Act and several other sections of IPC after the two were rescued by police from the minister's residence.

Mr Yadav's dismissal followed submission of a report by state's chief secretary V S Dubey and home secretary U N Panjiar to the chief minister on Sunday.

The Minister allegedly tortured the driver and the cleaners while keeping them in illegal confinement for a month. According to reports, the Minister and his cousin, Surendra Yadav, also removed the nails of the driver and made him drink urine.

The driver used to ply a truck owned by the Minister. While returning from a trip last month, he was apparently waylaid and robbed of the truck. Reports said the Minister suspected the driver of being in league with the miscreants.

After the news was flashed on Saturday, the Chief Minister asked the Chief Secretary and Home Secretary to submit a report on the incident. The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Cell of the CID has also begun an investigation into the case. The SP of the SC, ST and Minorities Cell, Amitabh Kumar Das, had sought a report.

NHRC issues notice to Bihar Govt: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) today sought a report from the Bihar Government and state director general of police on the alleged torture of a driver and cleaner by the minister, a report from New Delhi said.

Taking a suo moto cognizance of a news captioned 'Bihar Minister turns sadist; driver's nail plucked out, forced to drink urine' as reported in The Hindustan Times, the commission issued a show cause notice seeking details of the progress of the case and why monitory compensation should not be given to the victims.

In view of a criminal case having been registered against Mr Yadav for the alleged illegal detention and torture of two dalits, the full Commission in its order asked for a report within two weeks.

NHRC sought from the state chief secretary and DGP a report on the progress in the investigation of the case.