Slapgate: Did civic official in Indore lodge FIR under pressure?

Additional municipal commissioner in Indore Rohan Saxena was forced to lodge an FIR a couple of hours after he publicly claimed ‘misunderstanding’ led to the June 16 fracas, a BJP leader heading the slapgate probe indicated.

BJP corporator Saroj Chouhan, her husband and four others were arrested in the midnight hours, and were sent to judicial custody till June 30. BJP corporators and MLAs are protesting the arrests, saying Saroj and her husband neither slapped Saxena nor instigated anybody to slap him.

Two days later, Radha Kishan Jaiswal, who had slapped the officer, surrendered before police. He alleged IMC hired bouncers mishandled the crowd that led to an outrage.

“It seems there was pressure on the officer to file an FIR against the corporator and her husband,” said senior BJP leader Krishnamurari Moghe, who is heading the committee probing the episode.

Sources in police said they had registered a case due to “pressure”. Senior police officers, however, spoke about the “motive of mob” and justified the arrests.

After the incident, Saxena had said on record that it was a result of some ‘misunderstanding’. Moreover, he said, Jaiswal was an elderly man and was like a father, and he would not initiate any action against him. But about six hours later, Saxena had lodged an FIR against Saroj Chauhan, corporator, her husband and others.

“The officer (Saxena) looked more like a pub manager of the hotel, which will be a direct beneficiary if service lanes are closed. The men who were with the commissioner at the spot were bouncers,” a family member of Jaiswal said.

Jaiswal and other residents who ran small businesses near Radisson Square feared that their businesses would be affected if the service lanes were closed.