UP: Raniganj MLA accuses SP Pratapgarh of assault

PRAYAGRAJ: A high voltage drama played out at the camp office cum residence of district magistrate, Pratapgarh, for more than two hours on Wednesday when ruling party MLA from Raniganj assembly seat, Dheeraj Ojha alias Abhay Kumar, sat on a dharna to protest against anomalies in the voters list being prepared for panchayat polls.
The MLA accused superintendent of police (Pratapgarh) Akash Tomar of misbehaving with him and assaulting him.
Coming out from DM camp office campus in a torn kurta, Ojha alleged, “I was assaulted by SP Pratapargh without any mistake. The SP is intentionally targeting me.”
Videos of the incident with Ojha lying on the ground and shouting against the SP went viral on social media soon.
SP (Pratapgarh) issued a clarification through a post on social media saying, “MLA Dheeraj Ojha was sitting on dharna at the residence of the district magistrate to protest against anomalies in voters list. When I asked him not to do so, he started leveling false allegations against me.”
“The allegations are false, DM Nitin Bansal was also present with me during the entire episode,” said Tomar.
Earlier, while sitting on dharna, the MLA said, “Local officials are not performing their duties sincerely and this forced me to sit on dharna.”
“There are anomalies in voters list and local administration is not taking action against corrupt officials and goons,” he added.
Ojha also claimed that he had informed officials about people grabbing government land and misuse of government schemes in many villages, but no action was taken.
He also alleged that the Goonda Act was imposed on some people and other cases were registered but the administration did not take any action against them.
The MLA refused to call off his dharna till the administration takes necessary action on his grievances.
In the meantime, both DM and SP arrived at the spot and made a futile attempt to pacify the MLA.