Man ‘attacked by BJP MLA aides’ over Vande Bharat seat refused to file complaint: Govt Railway Police
The police said they wanted to understand how Raj Prakash sustained injuries and whether he wanted to file a complaint
4 min read
A video grab of the injured passenger aboard the Vande Bharat ExpressA 50-year-old passenger who was injured in an attack allegedly by the associates of BJP MLA Rajeev Singh Parichha over a seat dispute in the Vande Bharat Express on Thursday has refused to file a complaint in the matter, Government Railway Police (GRP) said.
The GRP officials said they were trying to record the statement of the passenger, identified as Raj Prakash, in connection with the complaint filed by Parichha who represents the Babina Assembly seat in Jhansi district.
Videos of the incident have surfaced on social media.
The police said they wanted to understand how Raj Prakash sustained injuries and whether he wanted to file a complaint.
In its preliminary inquiry, the GRP found that after the train arrived at Rani Kamlapati railway station in Bhopal on Friday, Prakash met officials of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the GRP but chose not to file a complaint.
Jhansi Railway Superintendent of Police (SP) Vipul Kumar Srivastava said they are coordinating with their Bhopal counterparts, who confirmed that Prakash did not file any complaint with them.
A police team was also sent to Bhopal to collect evidence in the matter but failed to contact Prakash, he added.
The SP said CCTV footage from the Rani Kamlapati railway station shows Prakash getting off the train. However, footage from the CCTV cameras inside the Vande Bharat Express did not capture any clear evidence of an assault, he added. While the visuals indicate some commotion, no assault is clearly visible, the official said.
The police said they are in the process of collecting evidence to take forward the investigation into the complaint filed by the MLA.
Parichha alleged that two unidentified passengers were creating a nuisance by sitting with their legs stretched out, obstructing the movement of others. When he asked them to behave, they misbehaved with him and used abusive language, he claimed.
The MLA further alleged that the two again misbehaved with him after suspecting he reported the matter to the authorities. He also alleged that when the train reached Jhansi railway station, the accused called their associates, who then misbehaved with people who had come to receive him at the station.
The BJP MLA was returning to Jhansi from Delhi along with his wife and son on the Vande Bharat Express, it is learnt. While two of their seats were adjacent, the third was at a distance. The MLA is believed to have requested Raj Prakash to swap his seat so the family could sit together. But when Prakash refused, the MLA approached the ticket examiner to request three seats together, but the examiner expressed his inability to make any changes. Upon the second request by the MLA, Prakash reportedly got into a heated argument with him.
The police said when the train reached the Jhansi railway station, the MLA’s associates — who were there to receive him — allegedly assaulted Prakash, leaving him injured.
When contacted, RPF inspector Rohit Chaturvedi, who is posted at the Rani Kamlapati railway station in Bhopal, confirmed that Prakash was taken to the GRP station but refused to file any complaint.
Prakash did not share any contact information with the authorities, he added.
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