Minister's manhandling: AAP demands action, flays L-G

Stating that there is no rule of law under Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal who was "working as a BJP agent", the Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday demanded action against those involved in manhandling and beating up the party's Minister and his aide.

AAP leader Ashutosh told the media that Delhi Police was "biased" against party MLAs Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal, who were arrested on the charge of assaulting Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash on Monday night.

"On the basis of a baseless complaint by the Chief Secretary, two party MLAs were arrested without evidence while those who beat our Ministers and their aides are roaming free," the AAP leader said.

He accused the L-G of working as the Bharatiya Janata Party's agent and "trying to destabilise Delhi's Arvind Kejriwal government.

Ashutosh said video proof was available against those involved in manhandling AAP Minister Imran Hussain and beating up his staffer Himanshu Singh at the Delhi Secretariat on Tuesday.

"Everybody has seen the video. (Still) no FIR was lodged against the culprits," he said.

Identifying a few in the mob -- Khatri, Sandeep Suhag, Superintendent Sahil, Sonu from the AR department -- the AAP leader said many others could be identified and demanded action against them.

He said video evidence was also there against those who heckled party leader Ashish Khetan and his aide Sahil Arora.

The Chief Secretary on Tuesday alleged that he was beaten up by the two MLAs in the presence of Kejriwal at the Chief Minister's residence on Monday night, where he had been called for an emergency meeting.

Noting that the Chief Secretary's medico-legal report said he was assaulted after midnight, he said the CCTV footage from outside Kejriwal residence showed the top bureaucrat made the exit at 11.30 p.m.

He said there was a possibility of assault on the Chief Secretary by someone after he left Kejriwal's residence or he could have fallen. "There is an unnecessary drama (going on) about it."

Earlier in the day, AAP Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam was detained as he was moving to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's residence to protest against the alleged casteist remarks made by Anshu Prakash against AAP Ambedkar Nagar MLA Ajay Dutt.

"Our Dalit MLA was arrested and not allowed to protest but protests have been going on outside (Deputy Chief Minister) Manish Sisodia's residence for the past two hours," he said, adding the police was "biased".

--IANS

mg/tsb/bg

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)