While claims of newly appointed Director General of Police Sulkhan Singh that stern action will be taken against the law breakers irrespective of the clout enjoyed by them, it had already fallen flat after the Saharanpur and Agra police both failed to act against ruling Party Member of Parliament (MP) and a legislator, who were involved in the attack on policemen. Fresh cases against the law makers were now reported from Bareilly and Barabanki.
While in Bareilly, BJP MlA Kesar Singh was accused of misbehaving with bank officials, a BJP MP from Barabanki threatened a local police officer claiming that now her Government is in power in the State.
Reports said that Kesar Singh, the BJP MlA from Nawabganj Assembly Constituency, allegedly thrashed and kept hostage a manager of Baroda Gramin Bank and manhandled him. The manager of Dalernager branch of Baroda Gramin Bank in Bareilly, Harish Singh lodged a complaint at Nawabganj police station, alleging that Singh arrived in his office along with his supporters to enquire about a farmer’s bank account on Wednesday, police said. The MlA then allegedly thrashed the manager and took him to an undisclosed destination where he was kept hostage for one hour and allowed to go only after being given a written assurance to make the payment related to the bank account. Interestingly, while the local police so far have not even registered a case, Singh also refuted the allegations of assault, saying he had only gone to inquire after people of the area complained that they were facing problems due to laxity by the bank staff.
The manager also claimed that he could not contact anyone as his mobile phone was also confiscated by Singh. DIG Ashutosh Kumar termed the incident as serious and said the matter is being investigated and if required, an FIR will be filed against the BJP lawmaker.
Meanwhile, the staff from over a dozen branches in the district strongly protested against the incident and some of them also downed their shutters on Thursday demanding action against the MlA.
In a separate incident in Barabanki, local MP Priyanka Rawat, allegedly used foul language against ASP Kunwar Gyananjay Singh during a press conference on Wednesday, saying she would make him pay for all the clout he enjoyed during the previous SP Government.
Alleging that Singh was shielding a murder accused, Rawat threatened to make him pay for the arbitrary manner in which he worked and indulged in property dealing during the previous regime. SP Barabanki, Vaibhav Krishna said the video of the press conference is being examined and if necessary, an FIR will lodged against the MP.
Rawat also said the situation has now changed and officials who do not bring a change in their working manner will be pulled up.