Lucknow, May 31 (IANS) Former Uttar Pradesh minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya has been left out in the first chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Friday in connection with the March 2 triple murder case.

The chargesheet filed in a CBI court here has named five people in the murder case of deputy superintendent of police Zia-ul-Haq, gram pradhan Nanhe Yadav and his brother Suresh, who were killed in Balipur village of Kunda region in Pratapgarh.

While CBI sources said this should not be seen as exoneration of Raja Bhaiyya, his supporters claimed that the powerful Independent legislator from Kunda was "innocent".

They argued that since the entire investigation revolved around the former minister, and that he was forced to quit the Akhilesh Yadav cabinet following the accusations levelled by Parveen Azad, widow of the slain cop, the CBI chargesheet meant there was no case against him.

However, a CBI official said that "all options were open and the case was still being probed".

After its two-month-long investigation, the CBI has formally charged Ajay Pal, Vijay Pal, Guddu Singh, Rajiv Singh and one more person in the murder of Nanhe Yadav and Suresh Yadav.