Plea in Madhya Pradesh HC Seeking Probe into Minister’s Gautam Tetwal Caste Certificate

A petition has been filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court seeking an investigation into the caste certificate of state Minister Gautam Tetwal, who contested the 2023 legislative assembly elections from a Scheduled Caste (SC) reserved seat.

The petitioner, Jitendra Kumar Malviya, claimed that Tetwal, the minister of state (independent charge) for Skill Development and Employment, participated in 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 plea further states that the minister belongs to the Jingar community, which is categorized under Other Backward Classes (OBC). The petition, which might come up for hearing next week, was filed by Malviya’s lawyer, Dharmendra Chelawat, who informed reporters on Friday.

Chelawat stated that the minister fraudulently obtained a certificate indicating his caste as mochi (cobbler). Documents mentioning the caste of Tetwal’s relatives as Jingar have also been attached to the petition. The plea requests an investigation into Tetwal’s caste certificate by summoning relevant records from him.