The Delhi Police arrested five more people late on Monday for allegedly ransacking BJP’s Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari’s house and assaulting two of his staff members. The arrested persons include a cook at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Including the two who were held earlier, seven people have now been booked for rioting.
Armed with sticks
The accused have been identified as Jagdish (42), who is a cook at Rashtrapati Bhavan, his brothers Jaikumar and Jaswant (33), Parshu Ram (32), Pradeep (24), Sunil Kumar (33) and Om Prakash (31). They allegedly entered Mr. Tiwari’s bungalow at Lutyens Delhi early on Monday and attacked his cook Ashok Pathak, who was standing at the gate and another staff member Abhinav who approached the gate on hearing the commotion. The accused then allegedly went inside the premises armed with rods and sticks and ransacked the house.
Special Commissioner of Police (New Delhi range) Mukesh Kumar Meena said the police is still probing the reason for the attack. “We have recovered rods, sticks and the truck they used to commute to the house,” he said. The police had earlier said that it was a case of road rage but later denied it.
A few persons arrived on motorcycles and then a few others came in a car. There was some sort of planning,” said DCP (New Delhi) B.K. Singh. The police had earlier booked the accused on charges of house trespass, criminal intimidation and causing hurt but have now added charges of rioting and culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
“We have registered a case under section 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence), 308 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 323 (causing hurt), 452 (house trespass after preparation for hurt, assault, or wrongful restraint), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 34 (common intention) of the IPC,” said Mr. Meena.
ASI suspended
Meanwhile, An ASI of the Delhi Police has been suspended for “unprofessional handling” of the case. ASI Kailash Chand was suspended on Monday and a departmental inquiry initiated against him.
He had attended two calls — one from the accused and another from the BJP MP's staff — on the day of the incident. Sources said CCTV footage showed him entering Tiwari's residence along with the accused. Sources said Mr. Chand said he had attended the call and informed other PCR vans. ”He could have stopped others from entering the house. He claimed the accused followed him in but it seems the trespassing happened in his presence,” said another official.
With PTI inputs
