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‘Projected as terrorist’: BSP leader’s son who brandished gun, surrenders
Aashish Pandey has been on the run since the incident last weekend outside Delhi’s Hyatt Regency hotel.
Ashish Pandey, former BSP lawmaker’s son who is wanted for waving a gun at a five-star hotel in south Delhi over the weekend, surrendered before a Patiala House courts judge in Delhi on Thursday morning. The court has remanded him in police custody for one day.
Pandey has been on the run since Monday when a video, which shows him brandishing a gun at the entrance of the hotel, made headlines.
“It is being projected as if I am a wanted terrorist and police across the nation is looking for me... A look out circular has been issued against me,” Pandey said in a video message put out minutes before he reached the court.
He insisted that though he pulled out his gun, he never aimed the firearm at anyone.
Watch: Ashish Pandey, who brandished gun, defends action in video message
The Lucknow realtor blamed the media for showing only one side of the story and insisted that people should see the hotel’s closed circuit television camera, or CCTV, footage also.
“It will show that he (complainant) had threatened me,” he said, suggesting that he had been targeted because his father and brother were in politics. “It is not a crime to be son, or brother of a politician,” Pandey said.
But Ashish Pandey isn’t the only one involved in the case from a political background.
Gaurav Singh, who was seen to be on the receiving end in the video, is the son of Kanwar Karan Singh, a three-time former Congress legislator from Delhi’s Model Town.
Gaurav Singh had earlier told HT that he felt so threatened that he decided not to report the matter to the police. “I have never had a gun pointed at me. I did not even know how to react to such a situation,” said Gaurav, a Delhi-based businessman.
Pandey’s father Rakesh Pandey was elected as MP on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket from Ambedkarnagar constituency in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Before joining BSP in 2007, he was a Samajwadi Party MLA.
The accused’s younger brother, Rakesh Tripathi, is a sitting BSP MLA from Jalalpur constituency of Ambedkarnagar.
Pandey and his family members are involved in real estate and liquor business for the past many years.
