Anil Vij’s car attacked in Panipat, two arrested
KARNAL: A youth allegedly hurled a brick on the car of health minister Anil Vij, when the latter was leaving after chairing a meeting of the district grievances redressal committee at mini-secretariat in Panipat on Friday.
However, the minister escaped unhurt even as the brick damaged the front windowpane of the car. Later, the police arrested the accused and one of his associates. They have been identified as Deepak Kumar and Amit Kumar, both residents of Panipat.
When contacted, Panipat deputy commissioner (DC) Sumedha Kataria said, “The two youths were overpowered by the police soon after the incident and the minister escaped unhurt.”
She said, “In the preliminary investigations, it was found that Deepak had hurled the stone. It is suspected that he was under the influence of liquor, but it is yet to be verified.” Panipat superintendent of police (SP) Rahul Sharma said investigations were on and the reason behind the incident could not be ascertained yet.
The police registered an FIR under Sections 186, 341, 353, 34 of the IPC and Section 3 of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act against both the accused.
An official of the Panipat district administration said, “Deepak told the police that he wanted to submit a memorandum to the minister about the Supreme Court’s recent ruling diluting the SC/ST Act, but he could not hand over the memorandum as the minister left in a haste.”
He added that Amit, who is Deepak’s cousin, claimed that he was not involved in the attack and he did not have an inkling that Deepak would hurl a brick at the minister’s car. The police said the duo was taken for a medical examination and they will face action, as per the law. Meanwhile, DC Kataria said that everyone was allowed to submit their applications to the minister and nobody was stopped. “Over 60 applications were received after the meeting and everyone was satisfied,” she added.
Later talking to mediapersons, Vij expressed concern over the working of the Panipat police and said that the incident could have been averted if the police had acted promptly.