UP: Agra Congress workers booked for riot, assault

AGRA: Scores of party workers, including senior leaders of Congress' Agra unit, were booked by the city police for riot and assaulting policemen while staging a protest at SSP office after right wing men vandalised their office.

On Monday, nearly 60 Congress workers, led by party’s state vice president Upendra Singh, Agra district president Dushyant Sharma, Agra city president Haji Jamiluddin Qureshi and Youth wing president Nadeem Noor, staged a protest outside SSP Amit Pathak office inside collectorate.

According to the FIR lodged by sub-inspector Gyan Singh, in charge of collectorate police outpost, “During the protest at SSP office, the Congress men blocked the passage to other government offices as well as the collectorate premises, after which extra police force was roped in to control the unruliness.”

“The INC men were told that CrPc 144 was imposed inside the collectorate which prevents them for gathering in large numbers, but their leaders provoked their party workers and the men turned violent as the cops attempted to push them back outside the collerctorate. Their mass gathering and protest created inconvenience to public servants and general public,” read the FIR.

Speaking to TOI, Agra district president of Congress Dushyant Sharma said, “We had gone to hand over a memorandum to SSP Amit Pathak inside collectorate, after right wing men associated with BJP vandalised our office on Sunday afternoon, but the officer did not turn up, after which we staged peaceful protest.”

“Lodging an FIR against us shows the approach and intentions of police who are acting as puppet of BJP government in the state. We have apprised our high command of the situation and will take appropriate action if the police don't quash the FIR against us and arrest the right-wing men who vandalised our party office,” he added.

The FIR was lodged at Nai Ki Mandi police station.

Station house officer of Nai Ki Mandi Prem Niwas Sharma said, “We are probing the matter. The accused INC leader and men have been booked under IPC sections 147 (riot), 341 (Punishment for wrongful restraint), 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 342 (Punishment for wrongful confinement) and 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty).”