SHO Sadar Police station Satwinder Singh said that a case has been registered against Rajiv Vashishth, but he is still at large. (Representational Image)
Hoshiarpur-based RTI activist Rajiv Vashisth has been booked in a case of alleged assault on a man at a construction site on Wednesday.
The RTI activist, who is the whistleblower in multi-crore Hoshiarpur land scam and has also been exposing cases of illegal mining and child marriages, was booked for endangering the life of a person, snatching and causing hurt under Section 379 (B), 336 and 323 IPC, respectively.
When contacted, Vashishth said he was implicated in a false case to stop him from highlighting illegal activities in the district. He said that in this case he was going, along with his family, to the place of his in-laws when he saw illegal construction in the Bhnagi Choe (seasonal stream) bed.
“I had already complained about this illegal activity to the Commissioner, Corporation, and when I saw it again, I called him on his phone to inform him of the same. Our call records can be checked,” he said, adding that while he was clicking the photos of illegal activities, two men– Avninder and Kuljit Singh — and others “threatened us and chased our vehicle in their fortune car”.
The case
The FIR against Vashishth was registered on the complaint of one Avninder Singh of village Varyana, who works as a foreman in the construction work of one Kuljit Singh of village Bajwara.
The complainant alleged that Vashishth entered their construction site at Adamwal road on Wednesday night and questioned him over not wearing mask. “When I told that I am alone here so what was the need of a mask, then he dragged him into his car, snatched my phone and when my employer came after listening to my cries, Vashishth fired in the air…In the car, I was beaten by the Vashishth’s men who snatched my salary money worth Rs 7000 and then left me near Kotla village…,” the complainant Avninder Singh has alleged.
SHO Sadar Police station Satwinder Singh said that a case has been registered against Rajiv Vashishth, but he is still at large.