Rajasthan: 7 held held for parading BSP leaders on donkeys

Seven persons have been arrested for blackening the faces of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) national coordinator Ramji Gautam and its former state in charge Sitaram for their alleged involvement in anti-party activities, police said on Wednesday.

"We have arrested seven persons in the matter. During the investigation, violation of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was found. Thus, the accused will be accordingly charged in the case," Zulfikar Ali, SHO Sindhi Camp, told media persons.

Further investigation is underway, he said.

On October 22, the two BSP leaders were also made to sit on donkeys, following which they were paraded in the vicinity.The incident had sparked a political slugfest with allegations and counter-allegations being levelled across party lines.However, BSP supremo Mayawati had blamed the Congress party for the incident."The Congress first split the BSP MLAs in Rajasthan and is now attacking senior people which is very shameful...Congress is adopting a very wrong tradition against the Ambedkarite movement, to which people can give a resounding answer," she had said. Rajasthan Minister Rajendra Yadav had denied all the claims made by Mayawati and said that they will look into the matter. He also added that the police is carrying out an investigation in this connection.