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‘He is like God’: Shrikant Tyagi, arrested for misbehaving with woman, gets warm welcome on release from jail
Tyagi was arrested on August 9 by the Noida police in Meerut, days after a video emerged of him allegedly misbehaving with a woman at a Noida residential society.
Returning to his home in Noida’s Grand Omaxe society after being released from Luksar jail on Thursday evening, following his arrest in August for misbehaving with a woman in the residential complex, Shrikant Tyagi received a warm welcome from his family and well-wishers. Door frames were decked up with flowers, sweets were distributed by members of the Tyagi community, and slogans like “Tyagi Ekta” rang in the air.
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His wife Anu said, “We will welcome my husband home for Diwali just as Ram was welcomed home… he is like God in our household.” Shrikant was granted bail Tuesday in a case invoking the Gangster Act, having previously obtained bail in three other cases filed against him. The reaction in the rest of the society to his return was fairly muted.
Among those present at his home was Mange Ram Tyagi, BKU(A) and ‘Tyagi Samaj’ leader, who had led the community’s earlier protest in front of Grand Omaxe. The family garlanded him, praising his role in their “struggle”.
Speaking about his arrest, Shrikant said he regretted using foul language in the scuffle but said the action against him was disproportionate: “The Gangster Act was applied, so many labels were applied against me and a reward was announced for my arrest… am I a Naxal or a terrorist for all this to be done?”
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Speaking to the press about what he would do going forward, he said, “There are maybe 7-8 lakh members of the Tyagi community in Gautam Buddh Nagar alone and many more across Uttar Pradesh. My strategy will be to see what I can do for members of my community and to fight on their behalf.”
He was also critical of BJP MP from Gautam Budh Nagar Mahesh Sharma, saying, “He has pushed away the Tyagi community, who voted almost 90% in favour of the BJP…”
On UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s administration, he said, “We will try to meet Yogi ji and give him the information about this conspiracy… we hope for justice…”