Jaipur:
As Lalchand Kataria, Minister of State for Rural Development, tries to settle down in his new cabinet role, he faces an old discomfort - a year-and-half-old murder case that has caught the Supreme Court's eye.
The court on Monday asked the Rajasthan government if the June 2011 murder of Mr Kataria's associate Bansidhar Jat was a fit case for a CBI inquiry.
Mr Jat's son Rajendra Chaudhary alleges that the suspects named in the FIR are Youth Congress activists enjoying Mr Kataria's protection. In December 2011, he filed another FIR, claiming the minister sent goons to scare him into withdrawing the case.
Mr Kataria maintains he is being targeted by political rivals and that a CID investigation has already given him an all-clear.
"Rajendra Chaudhary filed an FIR against me last year, but a CID probe found the case to be false. This case is politically motivated," he says.
But Mr Chaudhary says he was forced to file a special leave petition in the Supreme Court as the police were sitting on the case. "It's been almost a year and half, but no arrests have been made," he said.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot backs Mr Kataria and has dismissed the murder charge against him as factional rivalry within the Congress.
Mr Kataria is believed by many to be Mr Gehlot's man in the Union Cabinet. His name was recommended over that of Nagaur MP and Jat leader Jyoti Mirdha, whose family is thought to have been traditionally against Mr Gehlot.