C’garh BJP youth leader booked for abusing woman IAS officer
Chhattisgarh police have booked a BJP youth wing leader on charges of using obscene words on a WhatsApp group against newly appointed Raigarh district collector Shammi Abidi.
Prakash Agarwal, vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) of Raigarh, allegedly sent the offensive text on Sunday when Abdi was in Jagdalpur district.
Abdi, an IAS officer, is married to Jagdalpur superintendent of police (SP) Arif Sheikh, an IPS officer.
“The WhatsApp group’s administrator, a journalist, lodged a complaint and we registered the case on Monday,” said RK Mishra, station house officer of Sarangarh police station in Raigarh. “We have launched a hunt for the accused who is from Sarangarh.”
Agarwal’s brother Amit is president of the Sarangrah nagar panchayat from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Additionally, a case has also been registered against Agarwal in Jagdalpur. “The collector was in Jagdalpur when she was informed about the incident. Investigation is going on,” said Sheikh.
Chhattisgarh Congress alleged that the collector was abused because she was a Muslim. “Does the BJP support this kind of behaviour towards the community?” asked state Congress spokesperson RP Singh.
State BJP president Dharamlal Kaushik said he would send a show-cause notice to Agarwal. “If I don’t get a satisfactory reply, action will be taken against him,” Kaushik added.
This is not the first instance of a BJP youth leader stoking a controversy. Last month, Uttar Pradesh BJYM leader Yogesh Varshneya hit the headlines after putting a ₹11 lakh bounty on West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s head.
Controversial godman Chandraswami died here on Tuesday at the age of 66.
Chandraswami, who had suffered a stroke, passed away at the Apollo Hospital at 2.56pm.
“Spiritual leader Jagadacharya Chandraswami ji, 66 years old, had been ailing for some time. He recently suffered a stroke and later developed multiorgan failure,” a hospital statement said.
Chandraswami, whose actual name was Nemi Chand, shot to fame as an astrologer. He wielded enormous power during the regime of then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. He was seen as one of Rao’s trusted aides and advisers.
Often mired in controversy, his name cropped up in investigations into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. PTI