Patna:
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar sacked Excise Minister Jamshed Ashraf on Thursday, in the wake of the controversy over his allegation that officers of the CM's secretariat were involved in a multi-crore rupee scam.
"The chief minister has sacked Jamshed Ashraf and sent a letter to this effect to Governor Debanand Konwar," sources close to Kumar said.
Earlier, in a confidential letter to Ashraf, the chief minister had asked him to resign stating that no irregularities were detected after an inquiry was conducted into the allegations raised by him. But, the comment has provided fodder to the opposition to attack the government.
"The charges are unfortunate, undignified, malicious and unbecoming of a minister," Kumar had said in the letter, adding that Ashraf had breached the oath and secrecy of office.
He also charged the minister with stalling some of the "progressive measures" for arresting illegal sale of liquor and said many such discrepancies has been noticed in the probe into the allegations conducted by the chief secretary.
In September 2009 and on January 14 this year, Ashraf had handed over letters to Kumar seeking his intervention to unearth a "possible big scam" involving his secretariat.
In the letters he alleged that irregularities were being committed in connivance with officers in the CM's secretariat and the excise department resulting in revenue loss to the tune of over Rs 500 crore.