An FIR was registered today against Uttar Pradesh Ranji cricket team captain Mohammad Kaif for allegedly roughing up a press photographer who tried to take his picture when he was coming out of a cinema hall here.
The former India cricketer had just watched the evening show of Shah Rukh Khan-starrer "Om Shanti Om" at Picadilly theatre last night when the lenseman of a Hindi daily tried to click him.
An angry Kaif allegedly manhandled the photographer and also got into a scuffle with journalists who tried to intervene, eyewitnesses and journalists at the spot said.
The mediapersons then picketed Sector 34 police station where the cinema hall is situated and later assembled outside the hotel where Kaif and his teammates were putting up, demanding that a case of assault be registered against the cricketer.
The cricketer is leading the UP Ranji team and staying at a local hotel.
When Kaif did not apologise despite mediapersons waiting outside his hotel for couple of hours, they then marched to the official residence of Chandigarh's Home Secretary Krishan Mohan, demanding an FIR be registered against the cricketer. They also demanded that another cricket player Praveen Kumar, who had also allegedly misbehaved with some mediapersons outside the hotel where the UP team was putting up, should also be booked.
Following high drama outside the Home Secretary's residence, Senior Superintendent of Police S S Srivastava arrived at Sector 17 police station past midnight.
Relenting to media pressure, he said that an FIR has been lodged under various sections of IPC against Kaif.
The SSP also asked the mediapersons to give video recording of Pravin Kumar, who had been caught on camera misbehaving and allegedly using threatening language against some scribes.
