Officer who changed statement in Indore bat assault case should be prosecuted Cong leader

Indore, Sep 10 (PTI) Congress leader Sajjan Singh Verma on Tuesday demanded the prosecution of a Madhya Pradesh government official who allegedly changed his statement under "political pressure" after lodging an FIR against former BJP MLA Aakash Vijayvargiya, claiming assault on him with a cricket bat.
The prosecution suffered a setback on Monday when Aakash Vijayvargiya, son of powerful state minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, and nine others were acquitted by a special court in a case where they were accused of assaulting a building inspector of the Indore Municipal Corporation in 2019.
The main charge against then-BJP MLA Aakash Vijayvargiya was that he had attacked building inspector Dhirendra Singh Bayas with a cricket bat on June 26, 2019, officials said.
Bayas, in his statement during cross-examination, told the court he had sustained an injury on his right leg below the knee during the alleged assault. The civic official contended before the court that he was talking on the mobile phone when he sustained the injury and could not see who caused it as he was engrossed in conversation.
"He (Bayas) had filed a report against Aakash Vijayvargiya and others at a police station. Now you call it political pressure or whatever, under their influence, Bayas has changed his statement," said Congress leader Verma.
The former state minister said the municipal official should be prosecuted for lodging a "false FIR" in connection with the incident.
The Congress leader also said he considers the police as "big culprits" in the case as they did not investigate the allegations properly.
An FIR was registered against then BJP MLA Aakash Vijayvargiya and others under sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 294 (abusing), 323 (assault), 506 (criminal intimidation), 147 (rioting) and 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon) of the Indian Penal Code, officials said.
The alleged incident took place when the then-BJP MLA from Indore was protesting against the demolition of a dilapidated house in the city's Ganji Compound area. Aakash Vijayvargiya was arrested and later released on bail by the court.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)