The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police will investigate the First Information Report (FIR) against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who has been accused of injuring two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs at the Parliament complex, a senior officer said on Friday.
Mr Gandhi has been booked under sections 117 (voluntary causing grievous hurt), 115 (voluntary causing hurt), 125 (act of endangering life or personal safety of others), 131 (use of criminal force), 351 (criminal intimidation), and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita in connection with the face-off between the Opposition and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) MPs on Thursday.
“We have transferred the case from the local police to the crime branch,” the officer was quoted as saying by PTI.
On Thursday, ugly scenes unfolded between the Opposition and NDA lawmakers at the Parliament steps, during protests over Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s alleged insult to B R Ambedkar in the House on Tuesday. A tussle between the two sides left former minister Pratap Chandra Sarangi and Mukesh Rajput injured.
Both leaders, one of whom is 69 years old, are in the hospital.
Mr Sarangi claimed that he got injured after Mr Gandhi pushed Mr Rajput. They were standing on the stairs when Mr Rajput allegedly fell on him. “Rahul Gandhi pushed a member of Parliament who fell on me after which I fell down…I was standing near the stairs when Rahul Gandhi came and pushed an MP who then fell on me…” Mr Sarangi had said.
Various leaders of the BJP subsequently accused Mr Gandhi of hooliganism – allegations the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha has denied.
Later on Thursday, former Union Minister and BJP MP Anurag Thakur, and party lawmakers Bansuri Swaraj and Hemang Joshi, filed a complaint against the Congress leader, and, among other things, accused him of attempt to murder.
The Congress, however, dismissed the FIR against Mr Gandhi as a “badge of honour” and accused the BJP of using diversionary tactics.
The opposition party also alleged that BJP MPs pushed Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and “physically manhandled” Mr Gandhi. “Now they are accusing us of shoving them,” Mr Kharge said on Thursday.
A delegation of Congress MPs, including Digvijaya Singh, Mukul Wasnik, Rajiv Shukla and Pramod Tiwari, also filed a police complaint. In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, several Congress MPs asked him to initiate an inquiry into the incident.
Another senior officer said on Thursday that police have received the complaint and are looking into it.