Ex-MP’s son brandishes gun at Delhi hotel, threatens to shoot couple

NEW DELHI: A mobile video clip of a politician’s son holding a pistol and arguing fiercely with a couple at the porch of south Delhi’s Hyatt Regency hotel — during the course of which he allegedly threatened to shoot them — went viral on social media on Tuesday. The gun-wielding man was identified as Ashish Pandey, a builder whose father is former Bahujan Samaj Party MP Rakesh Pandey and his brother is the sitting MLA from Jalalpur in UP.

Police have filed an FIR and are trying to track down the accused, who absconded on Tuesday morning. Joint raids by Delhi and UP police are being conducted across Uttar Pradesh and a lookout notice has been issued against Pandey to prevent him from fleeing the country.




Meanwhile, BSP has denied any connection with the accused.

The incident was reported in the early hours of Sunday. Pandey got into a brawl with one Gaurav Singh, son of former Delhi Congress MLA Kunwar Karan Singh, and his female friend. The quarrel started after Singh allegedly entering the women’s washroom to look for his female friend, who had been throwing up.

Pandey was at the hotel with three women friends, who objected to Singh’s entry into the washroom. The two groups got into a fight in front of the bathroom. They left as the hotel staff intervened but ran into each other once again at the porch.

The brawl at the porch was recorded by one of Pandey’s woman friend who was seated in his BMW (UP32 JR 0900). Pandey had pulled out his licenced weapon from the glove box of the car and began to abuse the couple.

In the video, Pandey is seen approaching Gaurav with the gun in his hand and hurling abuses.

“Lucknow se hoon..,” he screams. One of Ashish’s female friend is seen joining him in attacking the couple. The woman accompanying Gaurav is seen showing Pandey the finger.

Sources said Pandey fled Lucknow on Tuesday along with his wife and child, and switched off his phone after reaching Basti, 200 km from the state capital. He may try to cross into Nepal (Sunauli border), cops suspect.

Police swung into action after the video surfaced mysteriously late on Monday evening. They contacted Hyatt — the hotel had not informed the police about it — which then lodged a complaint on Tuesday morning at 9.37am. An FIR under sections of Arms Act, causing hurt and molestation was registered at R K Puram police station in Delhi.

Four teams from Delhi Police, along with cops from UP’s crime branch and the local police, are conducting raids at multiple places in the state to nab Pandey. Raids were conducted at Santushti apartments in Lucknow and in Ambedkar Nagar area, but Pandey couldn’t be found.

Police also recorded the statement of Gaurav Singh and his female friend. Pandey’s friend Sahil, who had organised the party at Hyatt, also joined the probe. He told cops that he had recently became friends with Pandey. The three women, heard in the video, belong to UK and UAE, and had left for Dubai on Sunday.

Delhi Police has also written to its counterpart in UP to cancel Pandey’s weapon licence, which was issued from Ambedkar Nagar area.