Forty-two per cent out of 78 ministers in the expanded central Cabinet have declared criminal cases against them with four having cases related to an attempt to murder, says a report by poll rights group Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

According to their poll affidavits, 33 ministers out of 78 (42 per cent) have declared criminal cases against themselves, the report said.

About 24 or 31 per cent of ministers have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, robbery, etc.

According the news agency PTI, Nisith Pramanik from Cooch Behar constituency of West Bengal who has been appointed as the Minister of State for Home Affairs has declared a case related to murder (IPC Section-302) against himself. At 35, he is also the youngest minister in the Cabinet.

Four ministers have declared cases related to an attempt to murder (IPC Section-307). They are – John Barla, Pramanik, Pankaj Choudhary and V Muraleedharan.

As many as 15 new cabinet ministers and 28 ministers of state were sworn in on Wednesday, taking the strength of the council of ministers to 78.

Seventy ministers (90 per cent) in the new cabinet are crorepatis and the average assets per minister is Rs.16.24 crore, says the report.

Four ministers,  Jyotiraditya Scindia, Piyush Goyal, Narayan Tatu Rane and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, have declared more than Rs 50 crore worth of assets.