Cops vs MLA: Viral videos show the other side, pokes hole in Aligarh MLA’s version of assault

AGRA: Even as BJP MLA from Aligarh’s Iglas constituency, Rajkumar Sahyogi, who had accused a station officer of assaulting him on Wednesday, was admitted to the district hospital at night after he complained of “uneasiness”, two videos of his conversation with the policemen, suggesting that he too had manhandled them, went viral on social media this morning.
While Sahyogi was discharged this morning, the video purportedly shows the suspended station officer, Anuj Saini, asking the MLA as to why he had torn off his uniform and snatched his badge. Interestingly the MLA can be clearly heard saying that he has no choice but to do this when his work is not being done.
Another video that surfaced on social media, shows Anuj Saini asking the MLA if he wants to fight the he should wait for him to remove his uniform as he cannot accept anyone misbehaving with him when on duty.
While the heated arguments continued between them, another BJP MLA, Anoop Balmiki, who joined Sahyogi later, can be heard trying to intervene to resolve the matter. He even goes on to tell Sahyogi that he would leave unless he starts behaving himself.
Balmiki can also be heard in the video admitting that Sahyogi’s behaviour was “wrong” and the matter can be resolved easily with a conversation. The SO then can be heard calling up his seniors and informing them about the MLA’s behaviour. Later, in the video one can See Balmiki taking away the SO with him.
When contacted, Inspector General (IG) of Aligarh zone, Deepak Ratan, said that the inquiry is going on. All evidence is being collected and an interim report will be sent to the government, if the inquiry is not completed on time. He however, refused to disclose the details.
On being asked about the video clips being viral on social media, IG said that they can’t take a call on isolated clips as these are post incident videos and are not related to the incident. “We can’t draw the conclusion on the basis of these clips,” he said, adding that the SO and MLA’s version have been recorded.
Notably, the CCTV was not present where the incident took place. Confirming this, the IG said that they are examining the CCTV footage but cameras were not installed at the incident site.
Meanwhile, UP’s Youth Congress committee’s general secretary, Kunwar Guarang Dev Chauhan, demanded registering an FIR against MLA Rajkumar Sahyogi for allegedly beating petrol pump workers during lockdown. The petrol pump manager Kaushal Kishore had given a complaint to the SSP Aligarh on May 4 along with a cctv footage of the petrol pump but no FIR was registered into the matter.