Youth who threw ink on Dara Singh surrenders; SP and BJP trade barbs

Accused booked following a complaint by Dara Singh Chauhan’s gunner; case registered under sections 323, 324 and other relevant sections of the IPC, say police

LUCKNOW/VARANASI Twenty-four hours after black ink was hurled at BJP’s OBC candidate for Ghosi assembly bypoll Dara Singh Chauhan, a youth Abhimanyu Yadav ‘Diamond’ surrendered before cops in Ghosi on Monday, claiming he had acted at the behest of a local BJP leader.

The accused revealed that he was angry with Chauhan because he left the SP to join the BJP, said police. (Pic for representation)

Abhimanyu, whose facebook account has a photo of him with Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, was purportedly seen walking to the Kopaganj police station in a video while responding to an unidentified person, who wanted to know reason for the ink attack on the BJP candidate.

“It is the BJP’s doing. I was told by local BJP leader Prince Yadav (block development committee member) that this needed to be done as the election was tight. He had also promised to save me,” the youth was seen telling the unidentified person.

Circle officer (city) Dhananjay Mishra confirmed that the youth, who took responsibility of the ink attack, surrendered before the police.

An FIR was registered against Abhimanyu following a complaint by Dara Singh Chauhan’s gunner Hari Om Maurya, he said. The case was registered under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous means) and other relevant sections of the IPC, he added.

“The accused revealed that he was angry with Chauhan because he left the SP to join the BJP. He was emotionally attached to the SP, with which Chauhan was associated earlier,” the police officer said. Police claimed the accused had also threatened Prince Yadav two days back during the bypoll campaign.

However, local BJP leader Prince Yadav dismissed Abhimanyu’s allegations. In a video, he was purportedly seen telling some media persons that he was aware of the “allegations” levelled against him.

“I was in Kushinagar for the last two days, attending BJP’s zila panchayat training session. Last night I came to Mau and watched the video of the ink-attack. This morning, I realised that I had been named by someone as being responsible for the attack. This is the handiwork of SP candidate Sudhakar Singh who felt that I was the only Yadav leader in Ghosi backing Dara Singh and hence wanted to disturb this equation,” he was heard telling media persons.

The ink attack, which happened seconds after BJP candidate Dara Singh’s supporters had welcomed him in Adri Panchayat (Adri Chatti) area of Ghosi with garlands, had caught him off guard as the attacker smeared his face with black ink before fleeing.

Just before that, Dara Singh had attended a public meeting at a college in Kopaganj block, targeting his rival and SP loyalist Sudhakar Singh, a former lawmaker, who missed the 2022 contest due to Chauhan’s last-minute switch to the SP. After the SP lost the 2022 U.P. polls to the BJP, Chauhan, despite winning from Ghosi seat, subsequently rejoined the BJP.

The SP dismissed the BJP allegation. “Who knows? For political mileage, may be some BJP people were behind the attack,” Samajwadi Party’s national secretary and state spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said.

“Politics is full of such baseless allegations,” Chaudhary had said on BJP’s charge against the SP. The result of the Ghosi bypoll would be known on September 8.

Over the last couple of years, UP has consistently witnessed ‘ink attacks’ on politicians.

In 2020 and 2021, AAP politicians Sanjay Singh and Somnath Bharti were subjected to ink attacks, and in 2022 Kanhaiya Kumar was similarly targeted near the Congress office in Lucknow.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of hatching conspiracy and wondered why unlike previous ink attack incidents, the accused hadn’t been nabbed this time.

“Jab Ghosi mein syahi phekne wale ne khud hi bata diya ki ye kaam ussasey bhajpaiyon ne karaya tha to ab aagey aur kya kehna... abhi aagey dekhiyega, haar ka darr bhajpa se kya kya na karwaye...Ghosi ki janata sapa ki cycle hi chunegi (when the ink-attacker has revealed that the attack was carried out at BJP’s behest, what else remains to be said on the subject. Wait and watch, the BJP can stoop to any level as it fears defeat. The people of Ghosi would pick the cycle),” Yadav posted on social media platform X.