An engineer of Rajasthan electricity department has approached the police seeking protection after he allegedly received a call from a BJP MLA, who purportedly abused him and threatened him with dire consequences for acting against illegal power connections. Bundi MLA Ashok Dogra’s purported call, where he ordered Assistant Engineer Gopalkrishna Yadav to restore power to an illegal connection, or be ready to face the consequences, was allegedly made on Saturday. “This (illegal) connections have been going on for 20 years. What is the rush to act now?” he was purportedly heard saying. When the engineer reportedly responded saying that he was given a chargesheet and therefore had to take action, the MLA allegedly abused the officer. “Do you know who you are talking to? If you play with people’s sentiments, I will have your clothes ripped apart and have you sit at home. If you go to that area again, you will find me standing there,” Dogra allegedly said in Hindi, using expletives. After the alleged threat call was recorded and went viral on WhatsApp groups, Yadav went to the police on Monday to register a complaint and sought protection. “He approached us saying he had received a threat call from the MLA and feared that his life might be in danger. So we have registered his complaint,” said Bundi SP Bhuvan Bhushan Yadav. “We asked him if he wanted to file an FIR, to which he said no. After that he went to Kota and has not been in touch with us. We have been trying to contact him,” Bhushan added. When contacted, Dogra promised to get back in an hour and then switched off his cellphone. However, he told mediapersons on Tuesday that he was only protecting the interests of people as an elected leader. While the BJP has maintained silence on the issue, the Congress has reacted sharply to it. State Congress chief Sachin Pilot accused the BJP leadership of shielding the MLA. “It is now becoming routine for BJP MLAs to act like goons. Even if you have to raise people’s issues, it is unbecoming of an elected leader to use such profanities and abuses,” he said. “And the worst part is that the BJP is choosing to shield such people. They haven’t even come out with a statement saying this was wrong,” he added.
