Ashish Pandey has been on the run since a complaint by Hyatt staff set Delhi Police on his trail.
New Delhi: He whips out a pistol, threatens a couple, abuses them and then speeds off in his BMW. All this at the posh Hyatt hotel in southwest Delhi’s RK Puram, in full public view. While the harassment is underway, three friends of his can be seen egging him on.
The man has been identified as Ashish Pandey, the son of former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Rakesh Pandey and brother of a current MLA from the party.
A video of Ashish waving his pistol and threatening a woman has gone viral and the Delhi Police has booked him under the Arms Act as well as for criminal intimidation and wrongful restraint. Three days after the incident, Ashish remains on the run. On Tuesday afternoon, police issued a lookout notice against him.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (southwest) Devendra Arya said the assistant security manager of the hotel had filed a complaint about the incident on 15 October.
“In footage from the hotel, a male is seen brandishing a weapon. Accordingly, a case… has been registered. Legal action is being taken as per law,” Arya added.
According to police, Ashish, who hails from Lucknow, was in an inebriated state when the incident occurred on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday last week.
Police said Ashish was in Delhi to meet a businessman-friend named Sahil. The incident occurred at a party thrown by Sahil for a woman friend who had come from Dubai.
Ashish was at Hyatt with three women friends.
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Sources said before the fight, a heavily drunk Ashish had allegedly entered the women’s washroom and misbehaved with a couple of women, following which he was asked to leave the hotel. On his way out, he is believed to have bumped into a woman he knew and picked a fight with her and her male friend.
The police have now sent teams to Lucknow to arrest Ashish. Raids are also being conducted at the residence of Ashish’s friends in Delhi. The staff at the hotel have also been summoned for the delay in filing a complaint.
A real estate agent who loves his weapons
On his Facebook profile, deleted soon after the weekend showdown, a series of photographs showed Ashish posing with different weapons, including rifles, modern pistols, and cartridges, as well as Swiss knives and daggers.
A graduate of the Bala Hissar Academy in Dehradun, Ashish completed his schooling from Marshall’s school in the Uttarakhand capital and now works as a real estate agent.
Police, however, have screenshots of the photos uploaded by Ashish.
“It is not certain if he has a licence for the weapons he is seen holding in the pictures,” said a police officer.
“We are yet to arrest him. Once he is arrested, he will be questioned in this regard. If necessary, a raid will be conducted at his residence,” the officer added.
His father has been convicted of murder, abduction
Ashish’s father Rakesh Pandey faces over three criminal cases.
They include cases of abduction, murder, and criminal conspiracy in Lucknow; assault, criminal intimidation and wrongful restraint in Faizabad; and a separate case of criminal intimidation in Akbarpur.
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According to records, Rakesh has also been convicted in two cases of criminal intimidation, one case of abduction for ransom, and murder.
The report was updated after Delhi Police issued a lookout notice against accused Ashish Pandey, and with details about the reason for his visit to the city.