A Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) leader was booked on Tuesday after his video thrashing a retired Armyman at his salon owner in Rewa district went viral.
A CCTV video shows youth leader Rituraj Chaturvedi along with his accomplice entering a shop owned by Dinesh Mishra located in the Amhiya police station area on Monday night. The two men slap and kick Mishra and ransack his shop.
After the video went viral, the police registered a case and began searching for the accused. Rewa Additional Superintendent of Police Anil Sonkar said a case has been registered against the accused and the matter is being investigated.
According to reports, the youth leader had an old dispute with the shop operator. No arrests have been made so far.
Meanwhile, Mishra in his FIR stated Chaturvedi and two others came to his shop and started beating him without any provocation. They also ransacked the shops and damaged the items. He further said he could have retaliated but he didn’t respond to the assault.
Mishra also claimed some police personnel were present at the spot but didn’t intervene and instead escorted the Chaturvedi to his home. He alleged the police registered the case only after the video of the incident surfaced on social media.
BJYM is the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). BJP’s Rewa district president Ajay Singh said Rituraj Chaturvedi has been working as the city president of BJYM. “We will take action against him as his name has figured in the assault case," he told.
This is the second such incident of misuse of authority involving BJP-linked youth leaders in the past week.
Absconding Noida-based politician Shrikant Tyagi was arrested on Tuesday for abusing and assaulting a woman for objecting to his alleged illegal constructions at a housing society. After videos of the incident went viral on social media and drew condemnation, an FIR was lodged on Friday and Tyagi was booked under Indian Penal Code section 354 (assault or use of criminal force on any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty).