At 12:28 AM 28/02/04 -0800, you wrote: >This Article is quiet chilling. >_______________________________________________________ > >Aaj Ka Minister: Goonda King Of Kunda  >History-sheeter Raghuraj Pratap Singh, a minister >under Kalyan, runs his own fiefdom >_______________________________________________________ > What does Goonda imply? Is it some sort of pun on Gond? Just curious. This article seems to be from 1997/8, what is the situation now? The last I heard I think he was being held in jail on some/all of the charges. > > >HE is the archetypal Chhote Thakur, straight out of a >Mumbaiya Hindi potboiler. He holds court in his >courtyard and delivers instant justice—slaps  >jurmaana (fine) on 'erring subjects' or orders a >'sound' thrashing. His subjects, poor men, women and >children, touch his feet with their foreheads, >pleading for mercy. Outside his fortressed Bainti >Estate, people queue up every morning to offer >salutations, their bodies bent at 90 degrees, hands >raised in a namaste above their heads. > >The 'raja' in question is Kunwar Raghuraj Pratap Singh >alias Raghubir Singh alias Toofan Singh alias Raja >Bhaiya. He also happens to be the minister of >programme implementation in Kalyan Singh's >criminal-studded jumbo Cabinet. Add to this the fact >that he is the most dreaded name in Pratapgarh and >Allahabad districts. With 25 cases against him, >ranging from cheating to murder, the honourable mantri >is a prime example of criminals making it good in >politics. > He is well connected too, related by marriage to Barwani, Pratapgarh in Rajastha, Kalakankar and Tehri-Garhwal if my sources are correct. I wonder what his relatives think? IIRC Another member of the Royalty, (a son of the Raja of Satara) also had a brush with the law over some serious charges, but I haven't heard anything more recently. Cheers, Henry