Bihar: Excise minister gets the boot

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has sacked excise minister Jamshed Ashraf, who had accused him of covering up a multi-crore scam in his department.

Earlier, Nitish Kumar has asked Excise Minister Jamshed Ashraf to resign, after the latter accused him of covering up "multi-crore scam" in his department.

"The charges are unfortunate, undignified, malicious and unbecoming of a minister," Kumar said in a confidential
letter to Ashraf.

Kumar asked the minister to resign for allegedly breaching the office of oath and secrecy.

The chief minister noted that no irregularities were detected during inquiry into the allegations and rubbished the
charges against the chief ministers secretariat officials.