Following an attack on the Aam Aadmi Party office at Kaushambi here on Wednesday morning by persons purportedly belonging to right-wing group Hindu Raksha Dal, the Ghaziabad Police have registered a case under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to criminal intimidation, mischief and intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace.
Hindu Raksha Dal national convener Bharat Tomar alias Pinky Chaudhary and his supporters have been named in the FIR. Hours after the case was registered, the Ghaziabad police arrested Mr. Chaudhary. Ghaziabad Circle Officer Ranvir Singh told journalists: “We have arrested an accused for the attack on the AAP office. The police are also scanning footage from a CCTV installed at party’s office to identify the other accused, who will also be arrested soon.”
According to the volunteers present at the party office at the time of the attack, the assailants were carrying red flags and posters of Hindu Raksha Dal. They came to the office in five different vehicles and started shouting slogans against AAP leaders Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal. AAP volunteer Lokesh told The Hindu : “It all started around 10.45 a.m. The attackers came to the office in vehicles and started shouting slogans. When we tried to stop them, they started throwing stones at the office building. Seeing this, all of us ran to take cover and closed the main door. Some people tried to reach the first floor using the stairs. That is when we locked all doors to the building.”
“Thankfully no one was injured in the attack. However a volunteer had a narrow escape when she was trying to close a door while the attackers threw stones,” he added.
Later in the day, the Hindu Raksha Dal national convener said: “We staged a protest against AAP’s stand on Kashmir. AAP leader Prashant Bhushan’s remarks on Kashmir are very sad for Hindus, due to which we staged a protest outside the party office on Wednesday.”
The Ghaziabad Circle Officer who visited the spot told journalists that there was no security at the party office, but policemen have now been deployed there and at the Delhi Chief Minister’s residence, which is just a kilometre away.
Mr. Singh said: “Earlier, when we deployed security outside Mr. Kejriwal’s office and residence, we were asked to take it away. Now we are not going to listen to such demands and will deploy permanent security at both his office and residence.”
