Himachal Pradesh Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh was booked on Monday for allegedly assaulting and threatening two officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in Shimla. The alleged incident took place soon after a multi-storeyed building collapsed at Chamyana in Shimla, allegedly due to ongoing four-lane construction work.
Leader of Opposition (LoP) and former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur has sought Singh’s resignation in the wake of the allegations. “The BJP condemns the minister’s attack on NHAI officials. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu should remove Anirudh Singh from his Cabinet. The minister should resign,” he said.
The First Information Report (FIR) in this regard was lodged at Dhalli police station based on a complaint filed by NHAI manager Achal Jindal. Singh is a Congress MLA from Kasumti and the scion of the erstwhile Koti royal family in the state.
The assault reportedly took place near Bhattakuffer in Chamyana where the building collapsed on Monday. Singh had visited the site along with other officials. Jindal claimed that he and site engineer Yogesh Verma were summoned under the pretext of a meeting but were instead assaulted.
According to the complaint, “The minister took both of us to a nearby room and started assaulting us in front of others. He hit a water earthen pot on my head, causing bleeding. When my colleague Yogesh Verma tried to intervene, the minister attacked him too. We somehow managed to escape and reached IGMC, Shimla.”
Both men were admitted to Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (IGMC) in Shimla. Their medical reports are awaited.
A senior police officer associated with the probe said, “We have acted on the complaint. The matter is under investigation, and the medical examination reports will further aid the probe. The FIR was registered last night. Achal Jindal has been discharged from the hospital. Yogesh Verma is still admitted there.”
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The police have registered the case under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including section 121(1) (assault or use of criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging official duty), 126(5) (wrongful restraint or confinement by a public servant or in the course of official proceedings), 132 (voluntarily causing hurt), 352 (assault or criminal force otherwise than on grave provocation, and 3(2) (liability of abettors when the act is committed by several persons in furtherance of common intention).
Despite repeated attempts to contact him, the minister was unavailable for comment. Calls and messages to his office remained unanswered.
Meanwhile, the NHAI Employees’ Association condemned the alleged assault.
