A Delhi Police team on Tuesday left for Lucknow to detain a former BSP MP's son who whipped out a pistol at a luxury hotel here during a fight with a man, police said.
Ashish Pandey, son of former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA and MP Rakesh Pandey, whipped out the weapon in the hotel premises on Saturday night, the hotel said in a complaint made to the police.
A video showing Ashish Pandey holding a pistol in his hand and catching the other man's collar with his left went viral on the video.
Delhi hotel brawl: India Today speaks to the man on whom former BSP MP's son Ashish Pandey pulled a gun. Listen in#ITVideo
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In the video, Ashish Pandey and his friends can be heard verbally abusing and threatening a man who used the women’s washroom, the police said. Ashish Pandey first threatens and abuses a couple near the stairs of the hotel, where he is joined by a woman who seems to be fighting with the couple as well. He has the gun in his hand.
After that, Ashish and the woman enter the car which seems to have two more women in the back seat. At least one of them also verbally abuses the man Ashish is fighting with and calls him a “trans sexual”. It has been beeped out from the video along with the cuss words.
Ashish also continues with the threats and says, “Lucknow se hoon” (I am from Lucknow), and “dekha loonga” while sitting inside his car.
The man with whom Ashish was fighting with spoke to India Today and said that he had gone inside the women’s washroom to help his female friend who was feeling unwell and wanted to vomit. “I stood guard at the door, there was no attendant inside,” he says. He alleges that three women walked in at this point and were drunk. “They started creating a scene… I went to look for the hotel staff and told them that my friend is inside. She is not well, please get her out. They started bullying her inside,” he said.
The man further said that some men who were with the three women allegedly verbally abused him, to which he did not react. “I was very intimidated. When my friend came out, we went and sat down to finish our meal. But my friend was very scared. She was sobbing really badly because they were bullying her. So we decided to leave,” he recounted.
After this, the couple went outside, and found that Ashish and his friends were already in the car. They allegedly started verbally abusing and intimidating the duo again. “This man (Ashish) got out of the car with the gun and said, I will shoot you,” the man said, his voice shaking. “I have never seen a gun in my life,” he added.
Incidentally, Ashish Pandey’s brother is a sitting MLA in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
"Ashish Pandey does not live in Delhi. He lives in Lucknow. We have sent a team to Lucknow to locate the man," a police officer told IANS.
A case under the Arms Act has been registered against Ashish Pandey, who is absconding.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Devender Arya said a complaint was received on Monday from the Assistant Security Manager of Hyatt Regency Hotel in south Delhi.
(With IANS inputs)