Bhopal: An ex-army man-turned-security guard was allegedly thrashed brutally by a group of men led by a ruling Congress worker inside Jabalpur Municipal Corporation on Monday evening. The incident occurred few minutes after just energy minister Priyavrat Singh, also the minister in-charge of the district, had left the premises. The brutal assault on the JMC security guard was captured on the CCTV cameras installed on the premises.
Ex-army man, Harish Patel, aged around 50, was allegedly dragged by Congress worker Shakti Choksey and his supporters in full public view on JMC premises before being thrashed and kicked brutally. The injured security guard was rushed to hospital. Choksey and his aides were booked under Sections 353, 332, 294, 147, 148 and 114 of IPC by the Jabalpur district police.
According to Jabalpur district police superintendent Amit Singh, the Monday evening incident on JMC premises was Part II of what happened outside the Wright Town stadium in city during the encroachment removal drive on January 17. “There was a noisy brawl between Choksey and JMC staff, including the security guard Patel. Both sides had submitted counter complaints which are being probed. Preliminary probe (into Monday incident) suggests that Choksey and aides attacked the security guard to avenge the January 17 incident. All the accused, numbering 6-7 have been identified and efforts are underway to arrest them,” Singh informed.
Jabalpur MP and BJP state president Rakesh Singh, along with other senior party leaders went to hospital and met the injured ex-serviceman on Tuesday evening. “The thrashing of the ex-serviceman by Congress workers and aides is shameful. All of them had accompanied the minister in-charge during his visit to JMC with the intention of beating the security guard. This speaks volumes about the state of law and order in MP,” said Singh.
Angered over the incident, JMC staff stayed away from work on Tuesday and they joined by BJP municipal councilors, went to the district collector and police superintendent’s office demanding immediate arrest of the culprits. The Congress state media president Shobha Oza, confirmed that the prime accused Shakti Choksey was a Congress worker.
