Days after Congress Rajya Sabha MP and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh staged an overnight sit-in outside Khajuraho Police Station in Chhatarpur district, an FIR has been filed against him along with more than 50 Congress workers for allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct .
According to the police, the FIR has been filed under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) for holding the protest without a valid permission from the authorities while the Model Code of Conduct is in force in the State. Congress MLA and candidate from Chhatarpur’s Rajnagar seat Vikram Singh Nati Raja has also been named in the FIR, the police said.
On November 18, Mr. Singh had staged a sit-in and spent the night in a tent outside the police station to demand action against BJP candidate from Rajnagar, Arvind Pateriya, who along with his supporters is an accused of mowing over a local Congress worker to death in the morning of November 17, when the voting for the Assembly elections took place.
Mr. Singh and Mr. Nati Raja have demanded that Mr. Pateriya be arrested and ended the sit-in after the police’s assurance of a swift and fair probe.
Speaking to The Hindu, Chhtarpur Superintendent of Police, Amit Sanghi said that the latest FIR was filed on the directions from the Additional District Magistrate who received a complaint from district BJP chief Malkhan Singh.
“Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Khajuraho, (the returning officer for the area) has also submitted a report saying that no permission was sought from him. So, we have taken action for violating the code of conduct,” he said.
Mr. Sanghi had earlier said that the two candidates and their supporters had clashed on November 17 just hours before the polling began in the State and a Congress worker, Salman Khan, had died after he was run over by some vehicles.
While the Congress has accused Mr. Pateriya for the alleged murder, the BJP, including State unit president V. D. Sharma, have accused Mr. Nati Raja of “engineering” the death to influence the elections.
Two cases have already been registered in connection with the clashes — a murder case against Mr. Pateriya and his supporters and an attempt to murder case against Mr. Nati Raja and his supporters — with the local police.
Mr. Sanghi also said that the police have charted out separate investigation plans for both the cases and have started the probe.
Another police officer, privy to the probe, said, “Multiple police teams visited the spot and collected forensic evidence. We have also served notices to several witnesses and hope to solve the case in the next two weeks.”
After Mr. Singh’s protest, Mr. Sharma had also visited Chhtarpur and gave memorandums to the District Collector and the police seeking action against the former CM and Mr. Nati Raja.
