After allegations of police lathi charge against BJP MLA Raja Singh which reportedly resulted in an injury to his head, the Hyderabad police have called out his claims as bluff and provided video evidence of the incident, which shows the Goshamahal legislator attempting to hit himself with a stone and the police making efforts to stop him.
While initially the BJP dubbed the injury as inflicted by police, they soon changed their stance after the video was released by the police debunking their claims.
No lathicharge by Police. Sufficient evidence with us that it is a self-inflicted injury. pic.twitter.com/2KDS7eUgeD
— Anjani Kumar, IPS (@CPHydCity) June 20, 2019
Raja Singh who is a serial offender now claims that police had lathi charged them first, which the Hyderabad police Commissioner Anjan Kumar Yadav thoroughly denies. Raja Singh claims that he injured himself after the police attacked him. “I picked up the stone when police lathi charged me. I asked them to kill me for good and gave the stone to the police,” he says in a video.
On Thursday around 2 am, Raja Singh along with his followers tried to illegally replace the statue of Rani Avanti Bai, a freedom fighter, at Jumeraath Bazar in Hyderabad’s Old City. The MLA did not have the required permission from authorities to erect the 25-feet statue.
Predicting violence, given the MLAs past records, the police pressed in a contingent of personnel and thwarted his attempts.
Soon after, Raja Singh was admitted to a hospital, and the BJP state president K Laxman and other leaders visited their colleague. Crying foul about the Telangana police’s alleged brutality, they sought action against the police officers -- ACP Goshamahal M Narender, ACP Asif Nagar Narsimha Reddy, and Sub-Inspectors Gurumurthy and Ravi Kumar from the Shahinayathgunj police station.
However, accusing Raja Singh, notorious for fanning hatred and making communal speeches, of spreading falsehood, Hyderabad West Zone DCP Srinivas Reddy says that it was Raja Singh and his supporters who first attacked the police and created a commotion.
About 2 am Raja Singh with his followers tried to install a 20 feet statue at Jummerat Bazar.without any permission in violation of the law. In the process when he was prevented by police he hit himself with a stone on his head and caused a self inflicted injury on his head pic.twitter.com/GccoNGNSiv
— Hyderabad City Police (@hydcitypolice) June 20, 2019
“The allegations against police are completely false. The video which has been shared widely clearly shows that Raja Singh inflicted injury upon himself with a granite stone. The injury to him could be because of this,” the DCP says.
Police also faulted the MLA for attempting to erect the statue at 2 am. They have filed a case against Raja Singh and others involved in the incident.
“We have filed FIRs, after investigation we will arrest those who attacked police,” the DCP says.
Raja Singh, who is a Hindutva hardliner, created communal tensions in Amberpet last month during a clash between two religious groups over a Masjid. He was arrested too. The lone BJP MLA in Telangana, he has 43 criminal cases against him, most of them related to spreading enmity on religious grounds, as per his latest affidavit filed in December 2018.