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News Desk: In an embarrassment for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh, party MLA from Ayodhya’s Gosaiganj constituency Indra Pratap alias Khabbu Tiwari has been disqualified from the membership of the state assembly following his conviction by a special court for using a fake mark sheet to secure admission in a college. Tiwari has been sentenced to five years in jail. The verdict was delivered by Special Judge Puja Singh of Ayodhya MP/MLA court on October 18 after which Tiwari was taken in custody and sent to jail. The court also slapped a fine of Rs 8,000 on him.
Tiwari was convicted in a 28-year-old case. Notably, his disqualification comes just a few months before his five-year tenure was to end.
According to a notification issued by Vidhan Sabha principal secretary Pradeep Kumar Dubey, the Gosaiganj seat will be considered vacated from October 18, 2021.
A case was lodged against Tiwari in 1992 by Yaduvansh Ram Tripathi, the then Principal of Saket Degree College in Ayodhya at Ram Janmabhoomi Police Station, accusing him of using a fake mark sheet to get admission. Tripathi had alleged that Tiwari had taken admission in the second year of the B.Sc after producing a fake mark sheet of the first year.
In the fake mark sheet case, the investigator had filed the charge sheet under various IPC sections including 419 and 420. The lower court had referred the matter to the session court for trial in the year 2018. During this 28-year long hearing, the plaintiff Professor Yaduvansh Ram Tripathi had also died while many other witnesses also passed away. Then, the prosecution had presented other witnesses in the case.
There are more than half a dozen cases registered against Indra Pratap Tiwari alias Khabbu Tiwari. Several cases have been registered against him under various IPC sections like 302, 307,308, 420, 467, 471, 504, 506, 147, 148, 149, 307, 120B etc. The court had also sentenced Tiwari to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs 8,000 in a kidnapping case.
Before defeating Samajwadi Party’s Bahubali candidate Abhay Singh in 2017 on BJP ticket, Tiwari had lost two assembly polls in 2007 and in 2012 on SP and BSP tickets, respectively.
