A second probe by the state’s Labour Commission has found Raghuraj Prasad Singh, brother of Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, guilty of violating labour laws by “employing” children on his farm. The first report by an Assistant Labour Commissioner had cleared the minister’s brother and charged TV reporters with bribing the two children to appear before the camera as child labourers.Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who heads the Labour Department, said that a high-level probe team has found the minister’s brother guilty of violating labour laws and the report has been forwarded to the Advocate General.Asked as to what necessitated a second probe, Modi said: “The first probe by a junior-level officer had not taken everything into consideration. The tape shot by the TV reporters were also not examined. The second probe has found that the visuals shown by the TV channels were not manipulated.”Reacting to the second report, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh accused the state Government of framing his brother in order to defame him. “In the first probe ordered by the state Government, the allegations were found to be baseless. Now a second probe has found exactly opposite. The intention of the state Government is very clear,” Singh said.
