Sangeet Som Sena chief booked for vandalising food cart

The outfit, formed by the supporters of former BJP MLA Sangeet Som, had earlier reportedly called for a ban on the sale of meat and non-vegetarian food in Sardhana during the Navratri festival that began on Saturday.

“We have registered a case against Khatik and six others as they tried to disturb communal peace. The food cart seller was selling vegetable biryani, which Khatik and his supporters claimed to be mutton biryani. Even if it had been non-veg biryani, vandalising the cart was a crime aimed at creating unnecessary mischief because sale of mutton or chicken biryani is not banned,” Laxman Verma, the in-charge of Sardhana Police Station told The Sunday Express.

Sardhana is a town with a sizable Muslim population. Ahead of Navratri festival, meat sellers in the town had decided to do away with the sale of mutton and chicken during the nine-day festival.
According to police, Khatik and his supporters on Saturday roamed the town to see if the cart sellers had heeded their call for a ban on the sale of mutton and chicken. They allegedly targeted the food cart, which was selling vegetable biryani, and turned it upside down.

Saajid, the owner of the food cart, alleged that Khatik and his supporters also looted money from him.
“I was instructed by the police not to sell mutton or chicken biryani during the Navrartri. That is why I had prepared vegetable biryani. In the afternoon, members of the Sangeet Som Sena stormed toward my cart and vandalised it. They also looted the cash I had,” Saajid said.

Later, former zila panchayat chief, Seema Pradhan, reached the spot and protested against Sangeet Som Sena. “Though a case has been registered against the Sangeet Som Sena chief, we doubt that police would go for a serious investigation because of the clout that the former BJP MLA wields,” alleged Seema Pradhan, whose husband, Atul Pradhan, defeated Sangeet Som in the just concluded Assembly elections in the state.