Probe ordered into clash between lawyers, BJP workers

A court here Tuesday asked Delhi Police to probe into the incident where BJP workers and a group of lawyers clashed outside the election office of the party's chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sunil Beniwal of the Karkardooma Court asked the concerned assistant commissioner of police (ACP) to investigate the issue and file a report by Feb 5.

A group of around 150 lawyers Monday vandalised the office of Bedi in her Delhi assembly constituency of Krishna Nagar, in which three party workers were injured, police said.

The lawyers were protesting the announcement of Bedi as the Bharatiya Janata Party's chief ministerial candidate and marched towards her office raising slogans against her and the party.

Due to the commotion, around 25 workers inside Bedi's office came out and a heated argument ensued between the two groups that led to a clash.

On the injuries to the three BJP workers during the clash, the court said an independent opinion will be taken from the government hospital with respect to the nature of injuries.

The court said: "Matter being serious in nature, concerned ACP is directed to inquire the matter himself and file the report by Feb 5, 2015. Moreover, any form of electronic surveillance evidence shall also be collected as evidence."

The court's order came on a plea filed by advocate and Delhi High Court Bar Association president Rajiv Khosla, who sought court monitoring and fair investigation in the case in which an FIR has been registered against the lawyers.

The lawyers, in their plea before the court, said some people were being projected as injured and victims of the incident but it was a false and concocted story.

The plea said the FIR was falsely registered in order to defame the lawyers.

The lawyers were protesting against Bedi ever since she was named the chief ministerial candidate, because in 1988 when she was the Delhi Police deputy commissioner, a group of protesting lawyers were caned on her orders.