My 'innocent' father is victim of petty politics: Mussoorie MLA's daughter

Neha Joshi, the daughter of BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi, on Friday defended her father and said that he has been arrested because of the political pressure applied by the Harish Rawat-led Congress Government in Uttarakhand.

"We are not at all worried because my father is not guilty. His arrest is only because of a political reason. But I don't think that the police is at fault and they have taken this action under pressure from the state government," Neha told ANI.

"His arrest is a failure of our democracy," she added.

Meanwhile, the Mussoorie MLA, who has been accused of assaulting police horse Shaktimaan, has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days.

Meanwhile, the ruling Congress in Uttarakhand and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) exchanged verbal volleys over Joshi's arrest.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Friday asserted that there was no 'political conspiracy' behind the arrest of Ganesh Joshi.

"The action has been taken by the law enforcing agencies and I have no knowledge of it. The incident has not caused any harm to the government's image as the people have faith in us and trust us. There is absolutely no political conspiracy behind the arrest made in the case," Rawat told the media here.

Uttarakhand BJP president Ajay Bhatt, however, alleged that Joshi was not arrested and stated it seems to be a case of kidnapping as those who took him away were not in uniforms.

"We will meet the honourable Governor.We will give a befitting reply to the hooliganism taking place in the state under the leadership of Harish Rawat. We believe in democracy and we will do everything in a constitutional manner. But Harish Rawat, the Chief Minister, stands exposed today.They were in civil dress; we don't know whether they were policemen or goons. Our MLA has been kidnapped," Bhatt told ANI here.

Shaktimaan's left hind leg was amputated by veterinary doctors yesterday after it suffered multiple fractures during a BJP protest earlier this week. The horse was allegedly beaten with sticks by Joshi and his associates.

An initial assessment by doctors raised hopes that Shaktimaan would not lose its leg. However, the worst was confirmed Thursday as it had to be amputated to stop gangrene from spreading to other parts of its body.