MP: FIR against BJP Legislator's son for Firing on a Tribal Person

Bhopal: Almost a month after the Sidhi urination incident, in the neighbouring Singrauli district, the son of a sitting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator was booked for 'attempt to murder' charges for attacking a 34-year-old tribal man on Thursday.

Madhya Pradesh police lodged an FIR against Vivekanand Vaishy (28), son of a sitting Singrauli legislator, Ramlallu Vaishya, late Thursday for firing on a tribal identified as Surya Prakash Khairwar (34). Surya Prakash Khairwar was fortunate that the bullet only injured his hand, which was fired on him after squabbling over the traffic jam on Thursday at 5:30 pm. 

According to the Singrauli police, the incident occurred when Surya Prakash Khairwar, passing by a busy square near Budhi Mai Mandir road, spotted his brother in an argument with Vivek Vaishya and his group and stopped to intervene.  

In a written application to the Morwa police station, Surya Prakash Khairwar stated that he, along with his brother-in-law, Lal Chand Khairwar and brother Ravi Khairwar were travelling on a motorcycle to the nearby village when they spotted his relatives, Aditya Khairwar and Rahul Khairwar, arguing with Deepak Panika. 

As per Surya's application, "Suddenly, there was a noise of a gunshot, and my right hand was hurting; when I looked up, I saw Vivek Vaishya sitting in his car with a small gun in his hand. I yelled at him and asked why he shot; it was then he escaped with the car," stated Surya Prakash Kharwar in the FIR. 

"I rushed to the hospital and subsequently approached the police to register an FIR." 

Based on Surya Prakash Kharwar's written application, a case of attempt to murder was registered against Vivek Vaishya, and later sections of the Schedule Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 were also invoked in the matter. But the accused is on the run.

Speaking to NewsClick, Ashok Parihar, in charge of Morwa police station in Singrauli district, said, "We have recorded the statement of eyewitnesses, and two teams have been sent out to arrest the accused Vivek Vaishya."

Parihar said this was not the first case when Vivek Vaishya was booked for firing. There are several cases of assault, criminal intimidation and firing against him.

An upbeat Congress leader who met with the victim in the hospital alleged that police tried to intimidate the victim into settling the case without an FIR.

Parveen Singh Chouhan, former district president of Singrauli for the Congress, said, "Shivraj Singh Chouhan, on one side, is washing the feet of tribals, and children of MLAs of his party are shooting tribals. There are several cases against Vivek Vaishya of similar nature in which he assaulted journalists, forest officials and even members of the BJP itself, but he enjoys immunity."

Responding to the Congress allegations, BJP Spokesperson Hitesh Bajpai said, "It was not a caste-based clash. It happened in the fallout of an argument. Since the government has no tolerance policy against crime incidents, the police lodged the FIR and formed teams to arrest him."