Bhopal: A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ram Lallu Vaishya’s son, Vivekanand Vaishya, has been booked for allegedly shooting at a tribal man, Surya Prakash Khairwar, in Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli district Thursday evening. The 34-year-old victim’s right hand was injured in the incident and he was taken to the hospital.
The police said the incident happened at around 5 pm when Khairwar saw his relatives arguing with Vivekanand Vaishya and his associates in the market and tried to intervene. According to the police, Vaishya has been booked in several cases of assault in the past as well.
In his written complaint, which ThePrint has seen, Surya Prakash Khairwar said that he, along with his brother-in-law Lal Chand Khairwar and brother Ravi Khairwar were heading to a nearby village on a motorcycle when they spotted their relatives Aditya Khairwar and Rahul Khairwar getting into an argument with one of Vaishya’s associates, Deepak Panika.
According to the complaint, Surya Prakash Khairwar heard a gunshot and felt pain in his hand. “When I looked up, I saw Vaishya sitting in his car with a small gun in his hand. I shouted at him and asked why he shot me. Vaishya then drove away, but someone threw a stone and broke his car’s window,” the complaint read.
Khairwar added that he suffered a gunshot wound in his right hand and was rushed to the NCL Hospital in Singrauli. He later approached the police to register an FIR, a copy of which is with ThePrint.
Based on his complaint, a case of attempt to murder has been registered against Vaishya under IPC section 307. Later, relevant sections of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, were also invoked in the incident. However, no arrest has been made so far, and the accused is currently absconding, police added.
Speaking to ThePrint, BJP’s Ram Lallu Vaishya — a three-time sitting MLA from Singrauli — said that his son is innocent.
“He was present at the site of the clash, but the group had first picked a fight with Deepak Panika and then they got aggressive. They threw a stone and broke the glass of Vivekanand’s car, in which he was sitting. Vivekanand did not have a gun, so what could he have shot with?”
Further, the MLA accused the Congress of playing politics and of deliberately dragging his son’s name into the case.
“Arvind Singh, who is a Congress leader from the Thakur community, is sitting on a protest demanding Vivekanand’s arrest. If (my son) is at fault, then arrest him. My only point is that there should be a thorough investigation before the arrest. My son’s name is being deliberately dragged into the issue,” the MLA added.
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‘Vivekanand Vaishya has attacked others in the past’
Speaking to ThePrint, Ashok Parihar, in-charge of Morwa police station in Singrauli district, said, “We have recorded the statement of eyewitnesses and two teams have been sent to arrest Vivekanand Vaishya. Apart from Vaishya, Deepak Panika’s role has also come to the fore.”
Meanwhile, Congress workers have accused the police of delaying the registration of the FIR in the matter.
Parihar, however, said that the victim had come to report the matter after visiting the hospital, and considering that medical examination had to be done, formalities “took some time”.
Parveen Singh Chouhan, former district president of Singrauli for the Congress, in a video released to the media, said, “On one hand, Shivraj Singh Chouhan is washing the feet of tribals, and on the other, his party’s MLA’s son is shooting tribals. Vivekanand Vaishya has attacked journalists in the past, as well as members of the BJP, but the MLA did nothing and the police did not take action. This is why this incident happened.”
Responding to the allegation, Hitesh Bajpai, spokesperson for the BJP in Madhya Pradesh told ThePrint, “It was not a caste conflict which led to this unfortunate incident, but we have zero tolerance for any kind of violence against anyone in the state. This is why a case has been registered and the police are doing everything to grab him and put him in jail.”
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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