MP CM Kamal Nath hits out at BJP, congratulates police on Akash Vijayvargiya’s arrest
INDORE : Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after party leader Akash Vijayvargiya attacked an official of the Indore municipal corporation with a cricket bat on Wednesday.
Kamal Nath congratulated the police for arresting Akash, who is the son of senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya, and said that police must take strict against him. “It’s really saddening that a BJP leader behaves in such a manner, I congratulate the police for taking action. Law is same for everyone,” Kamal Nath said.
BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya’s son, who is a first-time legislator from Indore-3 constituency, was arrested after the incident. The incident which captured on video, created a furore.
A local court denied his bail plea and sent the Indore-3 MLA to jail for 15 days till June 7 for attacking the civic body official. Akash, flanked by his supporters, thrashed the official with a cricket bat in full public view even as police personnel tried to intervene and media personnel documented the blatant abuse of law by the BJP leader.
Reacting to the incident MP CM Kamal Nath said, “It’s really saddening that a BJP leader behaves in such a manner, I congratulate police for taking action. Law is same for everyone”.
A case was registered against Akash and 10 other for assault, rioting and obstruction of government work. An anti-encroachment drive was underway in the Ganji Compound area of Indore led by Municipal Corporation officers Dhirendra Byas and Asit Khare when they were attacked by the BJP leader and his supporters.
Leave the area in five minute or else whatever happens will be your responsibility, Akash had warned the officials. Akash later told reporters that he lost his cool when the officials failed to heed to his warning.
“I told them to leave the area in 10 minutes as we couldn’t tolerate the situation any longer. It is my responsibility to take care of the issues between arising between the people and authorities as I am an elected representative. I was making every effort. But the civic body officials were indulging in dadagiri and weren’t listening to the people,” Akash reportedly told the reporters.
Both Akash and his father Kailash remained unapologetic about the incident and the latter hurled insults at a television news anchor when he raised the issue with him. Akash, continued to remain brazen about thrashing a zonal officer of Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) who was overseeing the demolition of a purported dilapidated building of the MLA’s supporter that was declared “dangerous”. .
Narrating the incident later to reporters, Akash said, “in the BJP, we’ve been taught, pehle aavedan, phir nivedan aur phir danadan (first request and then attack)”. Indore Municipal Commission later suspended 21 officials for rallying support in favour of the younger Vijayvargiya over the incident. A statement from the BJP condemning the incident is yet to come.
Earlier on Thursday, an Indore court refused to hear Akash’s bail plea and transferred the case to Bhopal’s special court. Akash was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly thrashing a Municipal Corporation officer who had come for an anti-encroachment drive in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
The police arrested him after an FIR was registered against Akash at MG Road police station in Indore under IPC 353, 294, 506, 147, 148. Akash was produced before the district court after his arrest. He applied for bail but the court rejected his bail plea and sent him to judicial custody till July 7.
The FIR mentioned that Akash and some of his supporters tried to stop the officer who had come to demolish a building, reportedly illegal, in Ganji Compound area of Indore and Akash later assaulted the officer with a cricket bat. (With Agency Inputs ).
