The BJP’s Baghmara MLA Dhullu Mahto, who is facing various serious charges of extorting money from labourers and hard coke factory owners, framing opponents in false cases and indulging in illegal coal trade, on Tuesday hit back at his opponents, accusing them of lying.

Speaking to the media at Circuit House here, Mahto charged three Baghmara notables — former mines minister of United Bihar O.P. Lal, former Jharkhand water resources minister Jaleshwar Mahto and former Bokaro Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) president Bijay Kumar Jha — of being “knee-deep in corruption” and cooking up charges against him out of “sheer frustration”.

“All three people are involved in the murder of their adversaries during their tenure. They are concocting unsubstantiated charges against me out of sheer frustration,” Mahto claimed. Mahto added that he was away on pilgrimage to Vaishno Devi in Jammu when Biada’s Bijay Kumar Jha “orchestrated the drama of satyagraha” on September 26 against him.

“As soon as I returned, I decided to counter Jha’s charges and put things straight before the people,” Mahto said, adding that during the 10 years of his being an MLA, seven cases had been filed against him. However, he did not specify the charges against him.

The BJP MLA accused former Biada president Jha of running a hospital, Sri Krishna Matri Sadan, illegally at Baghmara (Katras) for his gynaecologist wife Dr Shivani Jha. “I would pitch for a probe with regard to the hospital. All kinds of illegal activities, including female foeticide, go on there.”

On the charges that he demanded money from hard coke factory owners and labourers, he said, “All baseless.”

The MLA tom-tommed his own achievements, saying that he had done a lot during his tenure as MLA over the past decade. “When you compare my work with that of my adversaries you will be able to know the truth. I have constructed over 50 temples in my area, a mosque and a gurdwara each, established a B Ed college and laid the foundation stone of a pharmacy college and a women’s college,” claimed Mahto. “If my adversaries can claim to have done even 10 per cent of the work I will leave politics.”