Cancel false FIR against godman, say protesters

Ludhiana: Members of Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena, Punjab, staged a protest outside Haibowal police station on Sunday afternoon, accusing cops of lodging a false case against a “godman”.
The police on Friday had booked “godman” Ashok Kalidas and his aides Kaku, Amit, Saurav, Mangal and Rekha — all residents of Haibowal — under sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC on the complaint of Arun Kaushal.

Arun, also a resident of the area, said, “On the morning of February 27, Saurav ran his scooter into me while I was walking in my locality. He sped away even as I was injured in the accident. In the evening, I along with my family went to Saurav’s house to talk about the incident. But Saurav along with Ashok Kalidas, Kaku, Amit, Mangal and Rekha attacked me, my wife Deepti Kaushal and mother Neelam Kaushal.”

After recording his statement, police had registered an FIR on March 1.

Accusing police of bias, members of Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal, along with the followers of the “godman”, staged an hour-long protest.

President of Shiva Sena, Punjab, Rajeev Tandon said, “Police have registered the case without investigation.”

Sevadar of the “godman” Soham Kalidas said, “Hours before Arun lodged the complaint, we had approached the police against him. Arun had abused the godman. But police did not file a complaint against him. Instead, they booked the godman on Arun’s statement.”

They called off the protest after cops assured to investigate the case.

Haibowal police station SHO inspector Navdeep Singh said, “We are looking into the matter.”