BJP MLA Narendra Mehta on Monday denied that pictures of a weapons training camp were taken at his school.
A Facebook user named Dhiraj Mishra, who identifies himself as a ‘social media strategist’ of the BJP, put up a video on the site refuting the allegations. Mr. Mehta said, “It is true that we rented out the school premises to the Bajrang Dal for a training camp as holidays are on. However, the pictures shared on news media and social media are not from my school.” He said the school premises was often rented out for events, including iftar parties and music shows. He said, “If these pictures are from my school, I will shut it down. Such activities have never been conducted in my school and will never be.”
The Hindu on June 1 had reported that the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), had approached the Thane Rural Police demanding a probe into the arms training camp allegedly held at the school from May 25 to June 1.
The police are still verifying the authenticity of the pictures. Atul Kulkarni, sub-divisional police officer in Mira Road, said, “It seems that pictures of various activities held in several locations by the Bajrang Dal were all put up in one Facebook post by one of their members, which led to the impression that all of them were taken at one place. We are verifying the locations of each picture.”
Mr. Kulkarni said the organisers submitted permits obtained to run the camp and said they had only used air guns. he said, “We have forwarded the permits to the District Collector’s office for verification.”
Mr. Mehta had been unavailable for comment earlier.