Police seek nod to register case in pepper spray incident

February 21, 2014 09:56 am | Updated November 16, 2021 06:36 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

The Delhi Police on Thursday said they have written to the Lok Sabha Secretariat seeking permission to register a case against Congress MP Lagadapati Rajagopal who used pepper spray in Parliament last week.

The police confirmed that they had received a complaint against the former Congress MP. The complaint was lodged with the Parliament Street police station by Ponnam Prabhakar, MP. He had demanded initiation of a criminal case against Mr. Rajagopal and the expelled TDP member Venugopal Reddy.

“We have received a complaint and action will be taken accordingly,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (New Delhi Range) M.K. Meena.

Sources said that in addition to writing to the Lok Sabha Secretariat asking whether to register a case against the two expelled MPs, the police have also sought legal opinion in the matter. Since the incident had taken place inside Parliament, the police cannot proceed on the complaint without a nod from the Secretariat, said a source.

Mr. Rajagopal was suspended from the Lok Sabha by Speaker Meira Kumar along with Mr. Reddy and 14 others for their conduct in Parliament. He had subsequently resigned from the Lok Sabha and announced that he would quit politics.

The source added that if indeed a case is filed, it will be under Sections 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) of the Indian Penal Code.

Mr. Prabhakar was one of the three MPs who suffered from suffocation, irritation in their eyes and heavy coughing following which they had to be taken to a hospital.

The Speaker had earlier directed the Parliament’s Committee of Privileges to investigate the matter.

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