Who is Raja Bhaiya?

New Delhi, Mar 4: Raghuraj Pratap Singh who is popularly known as ‘Raja Bhaiya' is a law unto himself in his home district. His opponents call him ‘Kunda Ka Goonda' as he belongs to ‘Kunda' assembly constituency of Pratapgarh district in UP. His critics accuse him of using strong arm tactics and taking law into his hands for settling his personal and political scores. He was elected as an independent member of UP Legislative Assembly for fifth time in a row from Kunda in 2012. He was facing 48 criminal cases when he was made Food and Civil Supplies ministry as well as prison department in Akhilesh Yadav led SP govt in 2012.Raja Bhaiya had to resign from Akhilesh Yadav government on Monday over his alleged involvement in the murder of Kunda DSP Zia-ul-Haque. The DSP's wife has accused Raja Bhaiya of hatching the conspiracy of her husband's death.Born in 1969, Raja Bhaiya belongs to Bhadri family (Oudh line) of Kunda, Uttar Pradesh.He is a law graduate from Lucknow University. In 1993, he won his first election from Kunda assembly constituency. In 1997, he grabbed the headlines when he supported the Kalyan Singh trust vote in assembly in the aftermath of withdrawal of support by Mayawati to the BJP government.In 2002, Raja Bhaiya was arrested by Mayawati govt on an FIR filed by a dissident BJP MLA Puran Singh Bundela on charges of alleged kidnapping and threatening with dire consequences. Later the Mayawati government declared him a terrorist, and he was sent to jail under Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), along with his father Udai Pratap Singh and cousin Akshay Pratap Singh.The incarceration of Raja Bhaiyya by Mayawati pushed him closer to Mulayam Singh led Samajwadi party. Raja Bhaiyya's career is full of charges relating to murder and kidnapping. The most chilling example of his strong arm tactics came to light in 2003, when two skeletons were recovered from a pond in his premises.In January 2003, a human skeleton was recovered from that pond. The skeleton was later identified as that of Santosh Kumar Misra who had allegedly dared to overtake the cavalcade of Raja haiyya. After this incident, Mayawati government took the possession of the premises having that pond. In May 2003, another skeleton was recovered from that pond. This time, the skeleton was that of Firoz Pasi, a resident of Banemau village under the Kunda police circle. Firoz had gone for fishing on October 9, 2000, in the pond and was untraceable since then.The police registered a case against the jailed MLA, his father Udai Pratap Singh and his MLC cousin Akshyay Pratap Singh, accusing the trio of involvement in the murder and conspiring to conceal the body.In 2003, within 25 minutes of Mulayam government coming to power, all POTA charges against him were dropped. Raja Bhaiya subsequently became a very powerful man in the government, and the police officer R.S. Pandey who led the raid on his house was killed in a road accident. Raja Bhaiya was accused of plotting his murder and the case is currently being investigated by the CBI.But in 2007, when Mayawati again took over as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Raja Bhaiya had to spend almost a year behind the bars in UP. The course of his political journey changed again in 2012 when Akhilesh took over as the chief minister and Raja Bhaiya was handed over the Food and Civil Supplies portfolio.