A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA’s son has been booked for allegedly shooting at a tribal man in Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli over a land dispute, police said.
The victim’s right hand was injured in the shooting and he was taken to the hospital, said police.
A first information report (FIR) was registered against Vivekanand Vaishya, son of BJP MLA Ramlallu Vaishya and his friend Deepak Panika following a complaint from one Suryaprakash Khairwar, 34, a resident of Panjer Basti.
Police said that they have resgistered a case under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 294 (using obscene language) of the Indian Penal Code and under relevant sections of SC/ST (prevention of atrocities) Act.
According to the FIR, Suryaprakash was going to market with his relatives on a bike on Thursday evening when he saw his brother Aditya Khairwar fighting with Deepak. “He stopped and interrupted the fight. Suddenly, a bullet shot sound was heard. When they turned back, they saw Vivekanand sitting in a car with the gun,” said a police officer.
The incident sparked outrage among locals who attacked Vivekanad’s car with stones, after which he fled the spot, said Yusuf Qureshi, superintendent of police (SP), Singrauli, adding that Suryaprakash’s condition is said to be stable.
{{/usCountry}}The incident sparked outrage among locals who attacked Vivekanad’s car with stones, after which he fled the spot, said Yusuf Qureshi, superintendent of police (SP), Singrauli, adding that Suryaprakash’s condition is said to be stable.
{{/usCountry}}Vivekanand was currently out on bail in a shooting case, police said. He was arrested in January for shooting a forest guard in July last year in Singrauli and came out on bail recently due to medical illness, said the SP.
Speaking on the incident, Ramlallu Vaishya, who is in Delhi, defended his son saying, Vivekanand was going to the market with his friend Deepak where Deepak and Aditya started fighting over some land dispute. He alleged that the complainant Suryaprakash, who was in an intoxicated state, interfered and they began pushing each other.
“Someone shot at him, but a filed was against my son, who was sitting in the car. It is a political conspiracy,” added Ramlallu.
Meanwhile, Arvind Singh Chandel, Congress leader from Singrauli, accused Vivekanand of harassing the tribals on several occasions.
“Vivekanand is misusing his father’s power and harassing the poor and tribals. He is a land mafia in Singrauli encroaching upon government and tribal land.”
Former chief minister Kamal Nath also slammed the BJP over the incident. “There is a competition among the BJP leaders of Madhya Pradesh to harass the tribal community. After the incident of urinating on a tribal youth in Sidhi, Vivekananda Vaishya, son of BJP MLA Ramlallu Vaishya, shot a tribal youth in Singrauli,” he wrote on Twitter.
(With inputs from Dheeraj Singh from Singrauli)