A BJP leader's husband was on Wednesday thrashed by a Samajwadi Party legislator and his aides on the premises of a police station in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi. Dozens of policemen and bystanders tried to intervene but failed to stop the attacker. A video of the incident went viral on social media platforms.
The video, recorded by a witness, showed Samajwadi Party legislator Rakesh Pratap Singh slapping Deepak Singh, the husband of Rashmi Singh, a BJP municipal election candidate, at the Gauriganj Kotwali police station in Amethi.
Deepak Singh was heard loudly abusing him as he got out of the car. The SP MLA then stormed at him and started beating him unabashedly.
Rakesh Pratap Singh told reporters that he was on a protest at the police station as BJP workers manhandled his party's supporters and the police have not registered an FIR in the matter. He also accused Deepak Singh of threatening to kill two Samajwadi Party workers.
"A conspiracy is being hatched to kill me. I have informed senior police officers about it," Rakesh Singh also said. He claimed that since FIRs have not been registered in these matters, they were forced to sit on dharna at the police station on Tuesday night.
He also urged Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Amethi MP Smriti Irani to take strict action against the legislator and his supporters.
On the other hand, Deepak Singh claimed that SP workers pelted stones at him "with the intention of killing him", forcing him to take refuge in the police station where Rakesh Singh and his supporters assaulted him.
The incident comes in the middle of local body elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Superintendent of Police Elamaran said both the parties confronted each other suddenly when they came face to face. "We will take action against whosoever is guilty," he said.
(With PTI inputs)
