'Photo-shoot' on UP minister's chair lands youth in jail

For him, it was just a photo-op intended to be used for bragging before friends and acquaintances but he had no idea that it would land him in jail.

Ajai Tiwari, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki district, about 40 kilometers from here, who got himself photographed while sitting on the chair of state minister Sandeep Singh at the latter's office, was arrested on Thursday.

Tiwari, who had gone to Bapu Bhavan, the building that houses offices of many ministers, to visit a friend a few days back. While taking a stroll along the corridors of the building, Tiwari reached the office of minister of state Basic Education Sandeep Singh.

Tiwari entered the chamber of the minister, who was not in his office then and seated himself on the chair. He asked his friend, who accompanied him, to take a few good snaps. He quietly left the office after the photo shoot.

The matter would not have come to light if Tiwari had managed to suppress his desire to use the pictures to create an impression on his friends and acquaintances.

Tiwari uploaded the picture showing himself seated on the minister's chair on his Facebook page. The pictures then went viral on social networking sites, triggering alarm bells among officials, who swung into action and lodged a complaint with the police.

The police on Thursday arrested Tiwari, a budding politician, from his residence at Haidergarh in Barabanki district. ''I simply wanted to get myself photographed while sitting on the chair...that's all,'' he said.

Tiwari, who was planning to contest the local bodies polls in his district, urged the minister to pardon him as he did not have any ''ill intention''.