City Cong ex-MLA held for assaulting, SMDC staff: Cops
Former Congress MLA Asif Mohammad Khan was arrested, on Saturday, for allegedly abusing and assaulting the on-duty staff of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and obstructing government work, the police said.
The arrest comes after a video surfaced, purportedly showing Mr Khan abusing the SDMC staff for allegedly removing hoardings and posters put up by him.
DCP (Southeast) Esha Pandey said a case was registered against the former Okhla MLA on Friday, based on a complaint by inspector (MCD Lajpat Nagar zone) Ram Kishore.
The complainant accused Mr Khan of abusing and assaulting the onduty MCD staff and obstructing government work.
The case was registered under Sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code at the Shaheen Bagh police station.
“The accused, Asif Md Khan, a resident of Shaheen Bagh, has been arrested and the investigation of the case is in progress,” DCP Pandey said.
Mr Khan had, on Friday, said he had no knowledge that they were SDMC staff.
“I don’t know who they were. I received no call or message from the SDMC about the incident,” he had said.
The video, purportedly showing Mr Khan beating up four men with a stick and directing them to hold their ears while doing squats, surfaced on
Friday.
He told a news agency on Friday that he had noticed that hoardings put up by him in the Okhla area were being removed while those of a local AAP MLA and the municipal corporations were untouched.
“I saw that some men were removing Congress party hoardings and posters near my home in Okhla. When I questioned why they never removed the posters and hoardings of other parties, they did not answer. I just taught them a lesson. I had no idea who they were,” Mr Khan had said.
A senior SDMC official said on the condition of anonymity that the people being subjected to “disrespect” belong to the civic body.
“The matter has been discussed with the deputy commissioner of the central zone. Appropriate legal action is being taken by the zonal authorities,” the official had said.
The Remunerative Project Cell of the municipal corporation is responsible for removing unauthorised advertisement material and encroachments.