PATNA: RCP Singh, who was union steel minister till last month has been put in trouble by his own party as he has been charged with misusing his official position in the party as its national general secretary and later president and amassing property in the name of his wife and two daughters.
According to the show cause notice sent to the two term Rajya Sabha member and former principal secretary of chief minister Nitish Kumar, RCP Singh had breached the trust of zero tolerance on corruption by purchasing 58 plots in two blocks, Asthwana and Islampur in Nalanda district. These purchases and land deals continued till 2021-22 when he was in the union cabinet, according to the 38-page list of recently acquired property by RCP in the name of his wife Giriraja Singh and daughters Lata Singh and Lipi Singh. Lipi Singh is an IPS officer of 2016 batch.
Umesh Kushwaha, president of the state unit of JDU, who served the show cause notice to his former national president admitted he had sent the letter on the complaints received from the JDU leaders of these two blocks. RCP Singh is also from Asthawan block.
According to the list of property acquired by Singh during his leadership in JDU, he purchased 20 plots in the names of his daughters, 38 in the names of his wife. Kushwaha said, "The matter is now before every one. Prima facie it appears to be a case of corruption. The party will take action after receiving his reply."
The JDU charge sheet alleges RCP Singh did not disclose the details of property acquired by him in the affidavits submitted before the returning officer during the elections to Rajya Sabha. In the land deal agreements, he had hidden his names on the list of property acquired by his daughters and in his place, the name of his wife was mentioned as father, which is irregularity.
Sanjay Kumar Patel, JDU block president of Rahui in Nalanda, who had complained to the state JDU president about the illegally acquired property of RCP Singh, alleged in only two blocks, the former union minister purchased 58 plots (farm lands) in the names of his wife and daughters. This is the tip of the iceberg, more property details are being exposed. He claimed the former president has purchased one acre of land in the district headquarters of Nalanda at Biharsharif block too. He claimed the land deal expose against the former national president had "blessings" of the chief minister who never tolerated corruption by his men and officers.
Party leaders here claimed RCP Singh who had been denied renomination to Rajya Sabha last month was active against the new national president Lallan Singh and had been mobilising a section of JDU leaders against Lallan. Party had repeatedly warned him declaring only Nitish Kumar was leader of the party.
This will be the second biggest land deal scam in last one month after Lalu Prasad and his family were charged by the CBI with land for job scam. His former officer on special duty and national general secretary of RJD, Bhola Yadav, is in judicial custody .
