Padmaavat protests: Karni Sena again denies role in Gurugram school bus attack

Students of a private school had a narrow escape when miscreants attacked two buses in Gurgaon on Wednesday allegedly protesting the release of Hindi film Padmaavat.

Shri Rajput Karni Sena on Saturday once again said that they were not involved in the January 24 Gurugram school bus attack.

The security personnel guarding outside Delight cinema house, after release of the film Padmaavat in New Delhi, India, on Thursday, January 25, 2018. (Mohd Zakir/HT PHOTO File)

Addressing a press conference here, Karni Sena chief Lokendra Singh Kalvi said he had evidence to prove that none of their volunteers were part of the attack on the school bus in Gurugram and cinema halls in Ahmedabad and other parts of the country.

“We are open to probe by highest of authorities, including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Let there be a CBI probe to find out who was behind the attacks,” Kalvi said.

He, however, said that the ongoing protest would be intensified and continued till the movie “Padmaavat” was banned.

Even on Thursday, Kalvi had said they had no role in the Gurugram bus attack and instead blamed Sanjay Leela Bhansali -- the maker of “Padmaavat” -- and his team for the heinous act.

Speaking to the media in Jaipur, Kalvi had said: “Our image is being tarnished by levelling false allegations... We are ready to face any kind of probe in this incident, be it judicial or CBI.”

“We can never think of attacking innocent, sweet-looking kids. I repeat that Rajputs can never make such an attack, neither can any Hindu, as our religion never teaches us to do such cowardly acts,” he asserted.

He stressed that the attack was engineered by Bhansali and his associates.