Former SP spokesperson alleges attack by Bajrang Dal members

Don't want to miss the best from Business Standard?

Former Samajwadi Party spokesperson Pankhuri Pathak claimed she and her team members were attacked Saturday allegedly by Bajrang Dal activists here when they tried to meet families of two persons killed in a "fake" encounter here.

Mustaqeem and Naushad, who carried a bounty of Rs 25,000 each on their heads, were killed in an encounter with police in Harduaganj area here on September 20.

While SSP Ajay Sahani said the duo had confessed to their involvement in the killing of two sadhus earlier in September, Naushad's mother, Shaheen, refuted the charges, alleging that the police picked up her son and Mustaqeem from their house in Atrauli.

Pathak told reporters on her return from Atrauli that at least three members of her team were assaulted and injured by alleged Bajrang Dal activists who attacked them "in the presence of the police" and also stoned their cars.

"Leader of the Bajrang Dal mob that attacked me. First they tried provoking us, when that did not happen they attacked. The attack on us was pre-planned ... Total mobocracy in the state," Pathak tweeted along with a video and tagged the handles of the state police, chief minister and the DGP while daring them to arrest the alleged attackers.

She said, "We were warned not to come back to Atrauli. We are not reporting this matter to the Aligarh police because we have no faith left in them. We are returning to Delhi and will decide our future course of action in this matter."
Pathak added, "Our only objective in meeting the families of those who were killed in police encounter last month was to ascertain on humanitarian grounds whether they facing any sort of harassment."