BJP MLA and son publicly assault on duty civic official with cricket bat; arrested

Indore, Jun 26: Akash Vijayvargiya, BJP MLA from Indore-3 constituency and son of party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, on Wednesday beat up a zonal officer of Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) for attempting to demolish a building of his supporter that was declared 'dangerous'.

Akash, who was arrested by the MG Road police, was produced before a local court. Cases under IPC sections 353, 294, 506, 147, and 148 have been registered against him and 10 others.
Earlier today, as the video of the attack went viral on social media, IMC staff went on a flash strike and staged a protest against the MLA.

In the video, Vijayvargiya is seen beating up the IMC zonal officer, Dheeraj Bais, with a cricket bat after he refused to call off the demolition drive. His supporters even damaged the windshield of vehicles of IMC officials. The situation got under control after police intervention.

The MLA later told reporters that the demolition was politically motivated and the building's condition was not that bad.

"I had brought this to the notice of IMC authorities and requested them not to take any action, but they did not listen to my request and sent a team to demolish the building. As I came to know about it, I reached the spot and tried to explain the issue to the zonal officer concerned, but he did not listen to me either. This is when I lost my patience," Vijayvargiya said.

However, he did not admit that he hit the civic official, saying, "I don't remember what I did to him. There were women in the building and the male staff of IMC were pushing them out of the building."

"I tried to make them understand about the risk. The building is in a dilapidated state and poses high risk to the lives of those living in it. But they did not listen to us, and thrashed and beat me up with a cricket bat," said Zonal officer Bais.

Bais later approached the MG road police to lodge a complaint against Vijayvargiya. The police had recorded his statements and an investigation was launched into the issue.

The civic body is running a drive to bring down dilapidated structures in the city to prevent any untoward incident during rains.