Lucknow, Jul 19 (PTI) Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party leader Arvind Rajbhar and around two dozen of his supporters have been booked allegedly for disrupting operations at the Mau Railway Station.
The police action came after the matter was raised by Ghosi Lok Sabha MP Rajeev Rai.
Arvind Rajbhar is the son of SBSP chief and UP minister Om Prakash Rajbhar.
Rai said that the DRM Varanasi, in a letter dated July 17, told him that neither Rajbhar, nor any other person from his party took permission to take a “tour” of the railway station, which obstructed train operation.
“On the afternoon of March 19, Arvind Rajbhar along with some of his supporters and mediapersons (20-25) held a press conference in an unauthorised manner, due to which there was a great inconvenience to rail operation, discharge of duty by railway personnel and the passengers,” the letter said.
“In this regard, a case was registered against Arvind Rajbhar and 20-25 unknown persons on April 4 under the Rail Act at Railway Protection Force post, Mau,” it said.
Rai on Saturday said he had earlier in Parliament raised concerns about the state of the railway station.
“About four days later, this self-proclaimed ‘rail minister’ arrived at the station with his supporters, inspected the station, and said that the local MP was lying. He also held a press conference at the platform. This infuriated me, since I am the elected MP from this place,” Rai told PTI.
“Who gave him the permission to hold a press conference on the platform? The stoppage time of the trains are barely 2 minutes. When hundreds of people are boarding and deboarding the train, and if any untoward incident happens, then who will be responsible for it?” he added.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Rai defeated Rajbhar by a margin of over 1.62 lakh votes.
Rajbhar, in his turn, said he was at the station to receive someone and did not conduct any inspection.
“I had gone to the railway station to receive someone, when some journalists quizzed me about the local MP’s statement about the poor state of the railway station. I just said that the MP must know the change the station had undergone since 2003. But he went on to charge me with unauthorised inspection,” he told PTI. PTI NAV MAN VN VN
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