RTI activist’s killing sets off row in Rajya Sabha
By IANSThursday, February 24, 2011
NEW DELHI - Question hour in the Rajya Sabha ended five minutes before time Thursday following noisy scenes when a Congress MP alleged a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in Gujarat was involved in the killing of RTI activist Amit Jethva.
Asking supplementaries on a question on the Right to Information (RTI), Congress MP from Gujarat Alka Balram Kshatriya alleged that a nephew of the BJP MP from Junagadh was involved in the killing of RTI activist Amit Jethva.
The allegation led to a huge uproar from opposition MPs. As the protests turned noisy, Chairman Hamid Ansari announced the question hour over at 11.55 a.m., five minutes before its usual time of 12 noon.
Amit Jethva was killed in July last year, a few days after he filed a public interest litigation (PIL) against illegal mining in the protected Gir sanctuary in Junagadh district. He had made Junagadh’s BJP MP Dinu Solanki as one of the respondents.
Solankis nephew Pratap alias Shiva Solanki has been named as one of the prime accused in the illegal mining in the Gir, the last habitat of the Asiatic lions.
