Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh industry minister Rajendra Shukla on Sunday landed in controversy for driving family of India’s first showman Raj Kapoor in an e-cart in a white tiger safari in Rewa district in the state.
Mr Shukla was taking the Bollywood icon’s family members — Radhir Kapoor, Prem Kisan, Prem Chopra — and others around Mukundpur white tiger safari in Rewa district in an e-cart driven by him in violation of rules of Central Zoo Authority (CZA), according to green activist Ajey Dubey.
“Under the CZA rule, only the driver employed by the safari is only allowed to drive the visitors in the e-cart. The minister has violated the CZA rule by driving the e-cart to move around the safari along with the family members of Raj Kapoor,” Mr Dubey told this newspaper on Sunday.
“I have brought it to the notice of CZA for action against the minister”, he added. The Kapoor family was in Rewa to attend a function organised to turn the house in the locality where Raj Kapoor married Krishna 72 years ago , into an auditorium on Saturday evening.
His son Randhir Kapoor inaugurated the auditorium in the presence of his family members who included Prem Kisan and Prem Chopra, besides other Bollywood actors.
The facility christened as “Krishna Raj Kapoor Auditorium” was built at a cost of Rs 18 crore by the state government. The auditorium has a capacity to seat 1,000 people. It has an open theatre to accommodate for 300 viewers.
Late Bollywood star Raj Kapoor married Krishna Malhotra, the daughter of inspector general of police of then Rewa estate Kartar Nath Malhotra, in the house on May 12, 1946.
