JOIN USKiran Bedi's office comes under attack, 3 injured
Three men were injured when a group of protesting lawyers vandalised the Krishna Nagar office of BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi on Monday, police said.
The worst injured of the three was Hariharan, who was hurt in the head and required five stitches. The other two, Manoj and Kapil, received minor injuries. All three were discharged from hospital after treatment.
The BJP blamed the Aam Aadmi Party activists for the attack. Police, however, said it was an act by protesting advocates. Though no case was registered till late Monday night, police said they were likely to file one soon.
Soon after the attack, Kiran Bedi tweeted that she was cutting short her rallies for the day and rushing back to her office. Three hours later, she tweeted that she had met the injured and their statements had been recorded.
She also thanked the party volunteers who “bore the assault and did not get provoked”.
The lawyers were protesting against Bedi’s candidature over a 1988 incident in which they faced a lathicharge allegedly on her orders. Bedi was Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) then.
Police said that at 4.15 pm, 250-300 advocates gathered outside Bedi’s office and raised ‘murdabad’ slogans against Bedi.
“A police team, led by the local station house officer, had the situation under control. But the advocates suddenly began quarreling among themselves over an unknown issue,” police told Deccan Herald.
The situation soon snowballed into vandalism. Police brought the situation under control, but not before injuries to the three men and damage to some three-wheelers.
No arrests have been made yet, said police.
The injured Hariharan later told the media that he was standing near the party office when he was attacked. He said he was unaware why he was targeted. Party workers, however, alleged that the advocates hurled objects at the office and attacked them with sticks.