Ghaziabad: BJP councillor arrested for thrashing tea stall vendor couple

The vendor’s wife gave a complaint that local councillor Sudhir Kumar and his accomplices beat them up during a late night incident on Monday over the issue of payment for food items and completely damaged their tea stall

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillor Sudhir Kumar, who represents ward 28 of Rajiv Colony in Sahibabad, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly beating up a couple running a roadside tea stall in Mohan Nagar, vandalising their shop and fleeing with their money and some jewellery items late Sunday night, said senior police officers on Tuesday.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillor Sudhir Kumar, who represents ward 28 of Rajiv Colony in Sahibabad, in police custody on Tuesday. (HT Photo)

The police said videos related to the incident were widely shared on social media and based on tea vendor’s wife’s complaint, they registered an FIR on Monday under Indian Penal Code sections 147 (rioting), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal intimidation), 392 (robbery) and 354 (molestation) against the councillor and several of his accomplices, including two of his brothers, at the Sahibabad police station.

The couple works as security guards at an old closed down factory in Sahibabad and also operates a roadside tea stall on the service road near Mohan Nagar in order to earn some extra money, police said.

“The vendor’s wife gave a complaint that local councillor Sudhir Kumar and his accomplices beat them up during a late night incident over the issue of payment for food items and completely damaged their tea stall. It was also alleged that some money and jewellery were also snatched during the scuffle. We immediately registered an FIR and arrested Sudhir Kumar. Teams are trying to trace his accomplices,” said Rajneesh Kumar Upadhyaya, assistant commissioner of police, Sahibabad.

“The councillor has been trying to extort ₹6,000 from us as “protection money”. On the night of the incident, Sudhir Kumar, his brother Sandeep Kumar, and his older brother (unidentified) came to my tea stall along with 10-12 others. They took some food items from the stall and when I asked for payment, they misbehaved with me and snatched ₹3,000 and some of my jewellery. Later, they completely damaged my stall and threatened that I’ll not be able to open it in future,” the woman, aged about 40 years, said in her FIR.

The woman said apart from her, her husband and two sons were also beaten up by the suspects.

“The councillor and his men often buy cigarettes and other items from my shop but they never pay,” the woman said.

Sudhir Kumar could not be reached on phone for his comment. Sanjeev Sharma, city president of the BJP, did not respond to calls and messages seeking his response on the issue.

Several purported videos of the incident have come to fore since Sunday night, police said. In one of the videos, a man is seen standing beside an SUV, calling up some police officer and asking him to come to Mohan Nagar and get the shop shut immediately. Another video shows several men damaging a roadside tea shop and later thrashing a woman and others.

HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.

“We are analysing the videos and strict action will be taken up against the suspects,” ACP Upadhyaya said.