Radisson hotel owner names MP in FIR alleging manhandling, he denies it

The police said the FIR names Gaurav Agarwal, who is stated to be a relative of the MP, and Gaurav’s aide Deepak Ahlawat besides one other unidentified person

The Ghaziabad police on Wednesday registered an FIR against several people after the owner of hotel Radisson in Kaushambi alleged that a group of men barged into his office on Tuesday and manhandled and threatened him. The complainant also said Rajya Sabha MP Anil Agarwal later called him and asked him to speak to the suspects to reach a compromise.

The MP refuted the allegations and said he had no role in the incident. (Representative Image)

The MP refuted the allegations and said he had no role in the incident.

The police said based on a complaint given by Radisson hotel owner Karan Jain, they registered an FIR at Kaushambi police station under Indian Penal Code sections 147 (rioting), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

The police said the FIR names Gaurav Agarwal, who is stated to be a relative of the MP, and Gaurav’s aide Deepak Ahlawat besides one other unidentified person.

In his complaint, Jain said, “Around 12.20pm, my staff told me that some people have arrived and they are threatening us to vacate the office. When I came outside my office, I found five persons shouting at my staff and they also misbehaved with me. They threatened to throw me down from the seventh floor of my office. I identified two of them as Gaurav Agarwal, who is a relative of Rajya Sabha MP Anil Agarwal, and Gaurav’s aide Deepak Ahlawat. Later, my staff alerted the Kaushambi police.”

Jain further said he gave details of the incident to the police and also the CCTV footage.

“While I was giving police the details, I received a call from Anil Agarwal around 1.03pm. He asked me to speak to the people involved, else he would not be able to stop these people and they could go to any length,” Jain further said in the FIR.

Jain did not respond to calls to reach him for a comment.

The police said that they have initiated an investigation in the case.

“The MP is not a suspect in the case and we have not found anything pointing to his role in the incident as of now. The CCTV footage shows that there was no vandalism in the office. There was some dispute related to financial transactions. We have called the people named in the FIR to give their statements to the police and further investigation is underway,” said Shubham Patel, Deputy commissioner of police (trans-Hindon).

Denying the allegations, MP Agarwal said the FIR was baseless as he had no role in the incident.

“Instead, I got a couple of calls from Jain probably around the time when this incident happened and I was busy with some meeting. About 30-40 minutes later, I called him back and he told me about the incident. I simply said that both parties should sit down and amicably resolve the issue and I have no role in it. Further, the police should have inquired before filing an FIR, which mentions my name being that of a public representative,” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Anil Agarwal said.

“But the police filed the FIR without any inquiring anything from me. This has been done deliberately out of some political motive. I will raise this issue in the Rajya Sabha and will also write to Uttar Pradesh chief minister as well as inform my senior party leaders in the state as well as in New Delhi,” Agarwal said.