Samajwadi Party MLA Vijay Mishra’s daughter Seema was on Tuesday caught on camera handing out money to three guards at the high-security Naini Central Jail here, after the release of her father on bail.
Mr. Mishra spent one-and-a-half years in judicial custody in connection with the bomb attack carried out on the former Cabinet Minister, Nand Gopal Nandi, here in July 2010. Mr. Nandi’s personal guard and the Allahabad correspondent of an English daily were killed in the attack.
Almost a dozen others, including Mr. Nandi, were grievously injured.
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CCTV footage shows Ms. Seema distributing what appear to be Rs. 500 notes to the guards as she leaves the jail premises with her father in an SUV.
Soon after he came out, Mr. Mishra was greeted by his daughter and dozens of party supporters. He distributed sweets to his supporters before getting into his vehicle.
Senior Jail Superintendent Ambrish Gaur said the guards, Vijaya Kumar Sonkar, Rajkumar and Gulab Chand, were suspended and the matter was under investigation.
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Speaking to journalists, Mr. Mishra said he was framed by those who want to defame him and his arrest in the case was politically motivated. He also said that the allegations made by the main accused, Anand Shandilya alias Rajesh Pilot, were “lies.” Mr. Pilot had named Mr. Mishra as a conspirator.
The Allahabad High Court granted Mr. Mishra bail on Friday. Mr. Mishra, who is the legislator from Gyanpur, was arrested in February 2011.
A sessions court here had rejected his bail application on January10 this year.
The MLA has 62 criminal cases registered against him.
Mr. Mishra has not been free of controversy during his custody. In July, he reportedly visited a temple without court permission during his stay at a hospital. He, along with another jailed MLA Mukhtar Ansari, was also spotted at a lunch hosted for United Progressive Alliance Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee in Lucknow on June 3.