Arrest warrant issued in 7-year-old case against Swami Prasad Maurya who quit UP cabinet yesterday

The Sultanpur MP-MLA court has issued an arrest warrant against former BJP minister Swami Prasad Maurya, who resigned from the UP cabinet on Tuesday.

He had been accused of stoking communal feelings when he was in the BSP, seven years ago. He now faces arrest over a hate speech, which he allegedly delivered in 2014.

Swami Prasad Maurya was reportedly asked to appear before the court on Wednesday. Since he did not, now he has been asked to appear in court on January 24.

According to NDTV, a warrant for his arrest was earlier put on hold by the Allahabad High Court in 2016. Since then there have been several hearings in this case.

In 2014, when Maurya was a member of Bahujan Samaj Party, he had said addressing a gathering, "Goddess Gauri or Lord Ganesha should not be worshipped during weddings. It is a conspiracy by upper caste-dominated system to mislead and enslave Dalits and backward castes."

When asked, Maurya laughed off the development saying, "All this and much more will happen now."

Earlier, while talking to NDTV, Maurya had said that his resignation from the UP cabinet has caused an earthquake in the BJP. He had further asserted that he has left the BJP and there was no question of going back.

With IANS inputs