Falsely implicated by rivals: UP Minister on CMO 'abduction'

Lucknow: Four days after Gonda CMO SP Singh was allegedly kidnapped by Uttar Pradesh Minister for Revenue and Rehabilitation Vinod Kumar Singh for not agreeing to include certain names in the list of contractual doctors, the minister resigned on Friday. Minister Vinod Kumar Singh alleged that the district magistrate was behind the entire case and the Samajwadi Party was forced to act in the case.

Speaking to CNN-IBN, Singh who is Minister of State for Revenue and Rehabilitation, said that he has resigned on moral grounds and called for a probe into the role of the CMO and the district magistrate of Gonda. When asked if he was denying that he kidnapped the CMO, Singh said, "Nothing happened. What is the point of putting across the list after the office time which is 5 pm."

Samajwadi Party's Mohan Singh lamented that the Akhilesh Yadav government has not done enough in this case. "He (Vinod Kumar Singh) made a good decision. For the dignity of his party and his own, he resigned. But the government should do more. Merely resigning from the Cabinet is not enough. More needs to be done."

Meanwhile, CMO SP Singh is in hiding after he escaped from his kidnappers and his son is worried about his safety. The family fears retribution. While speaking to CNN-IBN from an undisclosed location, he said, "The situation is the same as earlier. They came at night. They were trying to kill me and pressuring me to change the report."

The CMO was allegedly abducted by Vinod Singh alias Pandit Singh as he was 'unhappy' over the refusal to accommodate his nominees on the list of doctors on contract recruited by the district health department under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). Vinod Singh allegedly abducted SP Singh, roughed him up and forced him to draw up a fresh list. The CMO somehow made his escape and is in hiding. His family now fears for his life.