The son of former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) lawmaker, Ashish Pandey, said on Thursday he was being framed and subjected to a media trial after he was seen threatening a man and a woman and brandishing a gun at them outside a five-star hotel in the Capital on October 14.

“It is being projected as if I am a wanted terrorist and police across the nation is looking for me. A lookout circular has been issued against me,” Pandey said in a video message before he reached a local court in New Delhi to surrender.

Pandey, clad in pink trousers and a black t-shirt, was seen in the video that went viral pulling out a gun and threatening a man and a woman at the foyer of the hotel after an argument in the early hours of Sunday. He had been on the run since Monday when the video made headlines.

“I will not deny that the incident happened that night. I got to know about it after the video became viral after two or three days. But the incident is being reported from only one side and in support of just that side,” he said.

“If one were to find out what happened that night and the CCTV footage is seen, it will be clear who was inside the ladies toilet and who threatened whom after coming out of the washroom,” he added.

A joint team of Uttar Pradesh and Delhi police had raided Pandey’s flats at the Santusthi Apartments, near the Gulistan Colony in Lucknow where politicians and bureaucrats live, and several other places in Uttar Pradesh in search of him.

He accepted that he did take his licence weapon out of his car but said he did not brandish it at Gaurav Singh, the son of former Congress leader Kanwar Karan Singh, and his woman friend and that he kept the pistol by his side. Kanwar is a former three-time MLA from Delhi’s Model Town constituency.

“I did not misbehave with the girl and neither did I ever address her. She pushed me and made obscene gestures with her hand. And her friend abused me,” Pandey said.

He said he has “faith in the judicial process” and will surrender accordingly. He said he holds a licence for his weapon for the last two decades and that there has never been any complaint against him.

“I am a businessman and it’s no crime that I am a son and a brother of politicians. I have been paying my taxes for the last 20 years. I have never been accused of slapping someone and there is no civil case against me.”

The Lucknow-based realtor is the son of Rakesh Pandey, a former member of Parliament from the Ambedkar Nagar constituency in Uttar Pradesh from 2009 to 2014. His brother, Ritesh Pandey, is a serving BSP MLA from Uttar Pradesh’s Jalalpur.

“I will surrender and will keep my point. I just request you see the CCTV footage to find out what happened inside and who issued the threats. I was threatened by him when I asked him to get out of the bathroom. I called the security who asked him to get out. You can talk to the security department of the Hyatt hotel and come to know everything about the incident.”

The Patiala House Courts in New Delhi had issued a non-bailable warrant against Pandey on Wednesday after Delhi Police sought the document.

First Published: Oct 18, 2018 13:48 IST