Bhopal, Dec 9 (IANS) The Congress workers on Tuesday staged protests in several districts in Madhya Pradesh, including in Bhopal, demanding the resignation of BJP leader and Minister of State Pratima Bagri, whose brother was arrested with ‘ganja’ (marijuana) in Satna district on Monday.

Minister Bagri’s brother, Anil Bagri, along with his partner, Pankaj Singh, was arrested in Satna district. Police claimed to have recovered 46 kg of marijuana from their possession.

The contraband was reportedly hidden in sacks of paddy at Pankaj’s residence in Marounha village.

According to police, the seized marijuana is valued at Rs 9.22 lakh. According to the police, the vehicle used for smuggling belongs to another accused, Shailendra Singh Rajawat, who is currently on the run.

The arrests come just days after Minister Pratima Bagri’s brother-in-law, Shailendra Singh, was held in Banda, Uttar Pradesh, with 10.5 kg of marijuana.

Shailendra is already lodged in Banda jail in another NDPS case and had earlier been arrested in Satna for allegedly trafficking narcotic cough syrup in a racket worth around Rs 5.5 crore.

With both the minister’s brother and brother-in-law now linked to separate narcotics cases, the opposition Congress demanded her resignation from the ministerial post.

State Congress president Jitu Patwari said that one after another BJP leader or their close relatives are being found involved in drug trafficking in Madhya Pradesh.

“Madhya Pradesh has become the centre point of drug trafficking under the BJP rule in the past 20 years. Before Pratima Bagri’s relatives, BJP minister Vishwas Sarang’s involvement was found with the Bhopal Machhli gang, but they are being shielded by the BJP,” Patwari said.

When reporters questioned Minister Pratima Bagri during a review meeting in Khajuraho about her relatives’ alleged involvement in drug smuggling, she appeared visibly upset and shot back, “Zabardasti ki baat kyun karte ho tumlog?” (Why do you talk unnecessarily?)

However, later talking to the media in Bhopal on Tuesday, Bagri distanced herself from the issue, saying that she has nothing to withdraw them.

She instead blamed the media for narrating their own story to defame her.

“Before creating a narrative, media persons should know the truth. I have no connection with those. It is the media that made him my brother,” Bagri stated.

However, when asked why she tied ‘Rakhi’ to Anil Bagri and shared multiple photographs on her social media accounts if he is not her brother, Minister Bagri didn’t reply and fled from the spot.

–IANS

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