India: BJP MP's security men thrash toll plaza staff

 Ram Shankar Katheria

Agra (UP), Jul 6 (PTI) Security men accompanying BJP MP and Scheduled Castes commission chairman Ram Shankar Katheria opened fire in the air and allegedly thrashed employees at a toll post here on Saturday, police said.

The police have registered an FIR against Katheria and another person after the early morning fracas at the toll plaza on the inner ring road.

An aide to the MP claimed that the security guards opened fire in self-defence when they were attacked at the toll plaza.

Katheria is the chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and elected to Parliament from Etawah in Uttar Pradesh.

Toll plaza in-charge Anupam Singh complained that the MP was travelling through there at 3.45 am in a cavalcade of five cars and a bus.

The altercation began when the staff insisted on letting the vehicles pass through only one by one, according to the complaint.

The MP's security guards then allegedly started roughing up the employees.

The police said they are examining the footage from the CCTV cameras at the toll plaza.

The incident is the latest in a series of alleged attacks on public servants, involving legislators.

BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya's MLA son Akash was arrested in Indore for allegedly assaulting a municipal corporation official with a bat on June 26.

On Thursday, Congress MLA Nitesh Rane was arrested for plastering a civic official with mud after an argument in Maharashtra's Sindhugurg district.