Plea in HC claims MP minister fraudulently acquired caste certificate to contest state polls

Indore, Jul 12 (PTI) A petition has been filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court seeking a probe regarding the caste certificate of state Minister Gautam Tetwal, who contested the 2023 legislative assembly elections from a Scheduled Caste reserved seat.

The petitioner has contended that Tetwal, minister of state (independent charge) for Skill Development and Employment, contested the assembly election last year from the Sarangpur seat in Rajgarh district with a fraudulently acquired caste certificate.

Tetwal defeated Congress candidate Kala Mahesh Malviya by 23,054 votes.

The petitioner, Jitendra Kumar Malviya, stated that the minister was from the Jingar community, part of the Other Backward Classes (OBC).

The petition might come up for hearing next week, the petitioner's lawyer, Dharmendra Chelawat, told reporters here on Friday.

The minister hails from the Jingar community, which falls under the OBC category, but he fraudulently acquired a certificate mentioning his caste as mochi (cobbler), he said.

Documents mentioning the caste of Tetwal's relatives as Jingar have also been attached, he said.

Chelavat said that his client's plea has prayed for an investigation into the caste certificate of Tetwal by summoning records from him. PTI HWP LAL ARU