Mayor's son, 4 others held for disrupting traffic with birthday celebration in Chhattisgarh's Raipur

Raipur: A newly-elected mayor's son and four others were arrested after a video of them celebrating the former's birthday on the road and disrupting traffic in Chhattisgarh's Raipur surfaced on social media, police said on Monday.

The incident took place in front of the mayor's residence in the Changorabhata locality under the DD Nagar police station limits around 12:30 am on Saturday, an official said.

He said Raipur mayor Meenal Choubey's son, Mrinak Choubey alias Mehul, and his friends Avinash Chandel alias Chintu, Manoj Gautam, Chhagan Dewangan and Roshan Kumar Dewangan, were arrested on Saturday.

Based on a complaint, a case under section 126 (2) (wrongful restraint) and other relevant provisions of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered, the official said.

He said the alleged accused were presented in the court of a sub-divisional magistrate and were granted bail.

Mayor Meenal Choubey had taken oath along with 69 elected corporators of the Raipur Municipal Corporation in a swearing-in ceremony just a few hours before the incident on Friday.

The video, which went viral on social media, showed the mayor's son cutting a birthday cake and bursting firecrackers on the road.

Chhattisgarh former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel accused the BJP government of having double standards and pointed out that 10 Congress workers were recently arrested and sent to jail for cutting cakes and bursting firecrackers on the road.

"They spent a night in prison before getting bail. But, the Raipur mayor's son and others were bailed out," he said.

The mayor, meanwhile, admitted that a mistake had been committed and she would ensure that it doesn't happen again.

Incidentally, Chief Secretary Amitabh Jain had on Friday asked officials to take strict action against persons obstructing public roads for private celebrations, such as birthday parties, community feasts, and unauthorised pandals.

Raipur collector Gaurav Singh and Raipur senior superintendent of police Lal Umed Singh on Saturday also urged the public not to organise programmes that obstruct roads and warned of legal action.