Lucknow, Mar 4 (IANS): Uttar Pradesh minister Raja Bhaiya and seven of his associates have been booked for the murder of a senior police officer, officials said Monday.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Zia-ul Haq was killed with two others in Balipur village in Pratapgarh district, over 100 km from here Saturday night, during violence that followed the murder of the village head Nanhe Yadav.

Parveen, the wife of the slain officer, has accused the food and civil supply minister of conspiring to kill her husband as he was investigating a "sensitive matter".

The case was registered Sunday evening after Zia-ul Haq's family refused to allow his funeral until a case was registered against the controversial minister.

"The situation in the village remained tense but under control Monday morning," police officials told IANS.

Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya was charged with conspiracy to kill the uniformed official, who was first attacked by an angry mob and then shot in the leg and chest from a point blank range, an official said.

The minister's close associates who have been booked in the case include panchayat head Gulshan Yadav and driver Rohit Singh. They have been charged with murder.

"Heavy police force... has been deployed in the area and no untoward incident has been reported," a senior official said.

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has announced ex gratia payment of Rs.20 lakh to the family of the deceased police official and transferred Pratapgarh Superintendent of Police (SP) Anil Rai and posted L.R. Kumar as the new district police chief.

"My husband (Zia-ul Haq) had told me that he was working on a very sensitive case that involved politically powerful people," Parveen told investigators.

The naming of a powerful minister in an first information report (FIR) is set to create fresh trouble for the Akhilesh Yadav government, which completes an year in office March 15.

Law and order has become a bane for the state government with a spurt in crime in recent times, even against police officials.

With the state assembly session under way, political parties are set to corner the chief minister Monday in the state assembly. The Congress has already demanded that Raja Bhaiya be dropped from the cabinet.

Senior Congress leader and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Narayan Dutt Tiwari has blamed an "administrative failure" for the "tragic event".

Senior Congress leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi also slammed the government for its "inefficiency" and "lack of administrative acumen" and said such an incident was reflective of the situation in Uttar Pradesh.