A Telangana Rashtra Samithi MLA and her husband assaulted a toll plaza employee on Tuesday morning, with the help of their gunman, for not letting them pass through for free. When a commuter tried filming the incident, the couple snatched his cell phone.
The incident happened at the Renigunta checkpost, as MLA Bodiga Shobha, her husband and their security personnel were going to Hyderabad from Karimnagar.
The couple demanded a free entry, but the employee purportedly asked them to wait for a few minutes. Infuriated with his attitude, the MLA got out of the car and started shouting at him. Her husband, Bodiga Gallanna, then slapped the employee, reported HMTV.
Choppadandi #TRS MLA Bodige Shobha's gunman assaulted a toll employee at Renugunta toll gate in #Telangana . When @TimesNow questioned her she says her car wasn't given free way despite being a VIP!#EndVVIPculture pic.twitter.com/L5hsEyN330
— PAUL OOMMEN (@Paul_Oommen) December 12, 2017
HMTV also said that when they noticed a commuter filming the incident on his cellphone, Gallanna snatched the phone.
The MLA, however, dismissed the reports of them hitting the toll booth employee, and said that the argument ensued when he used a slur against her.
Speaking to TNM, Gallana said, “We got down from the car and chased the employee only after he used a foul word against my wife … The CCTV footage didn’t capture that [the employee using the word].”
“We wanted to reach the Secretariat at the earliest, and demanded that we be allowed to enter for free, which we are allowed to do. Instead, he made us wait and used a foul word against my wife,” Gallana alleged.
He also claimed that he took the employee’s phone to hand it to the police. “Naturally, anyone will get agitated if someone abuses them. There is no visual of us assaulting him. We just chased him ... Without context, the video looks like we attacked him.”
He also alleged that the incident was being spread by someone from the YSR Congress to discredit them.
“The employee admitted to abusing my wife, without realizing that she is an MLA. Even the management acknowledged it ... In fact, the manager of the plaza is my tenant,” Gallanna claimed.