Congress workers nabbed for 'harassing' woman over shop in Varanasi; party cries frame-up

The arrests were made on Thursday following a complaint by a woman, who alleged she was harassed and forcibly evicted from her shop in the Chetganj area, police said.

Varanasi: Two local Congress workers, said to be close to the party's Uttar Pradesh unit president Ajay Rai, were nabbed on charges of robbery, theft, and molestation, police said on Friday.

The arrests were made on Thursday following a complaint by a woman, who alleged she was harassed and forcibly evicted from her shop in the Chetganj area, they said.

Local Station House Officer (SHO) Dilip Kumar Mishra said that the complainant, Sachina Khatoon, a resident of Chetganj, had rented a shop from one Sanjay Singh in Hathua Market, and ran a boutique in it.

"Khatoon alleged that after Sanjay Singh's death during the COVID-19 pandemic, his friends, Anand Pandey and Amit Pathak, began intimidating her, extorting money as protection fees. When she refused, they allegedly pressured her to vacate the shop and subjected her to various forms of harassment," he said.

Khatoon claimed that she also obtained a stay order on eviction from the court.

Despite the order, however, last year in May, Pandey and Pathak orchestrated a break-in into her shop and made off with all her belongings, she said.

When she and her daughters resisted, they were berated and harassed, police said, citing her complaint.

"Both Anand Pandey and Amit Pathak are said to be close associates of Congress state president Ajay Rai. A case of robbery, theft, and molestation has been registered against them. Both were arrested on Thursday and presented before the court, which subsequently sent them to jail," said the SHO.

Meanwhile, Congress Metropolitan President Raghavendra Chaubey denied the allegations, calling the arrests a "premeditated conspiracy by the BJP government" to discredit their state president and the party.

Chaubey said that Pandey and Pathak, both, are "strong activists" of the Congress, and accused Khatoon of having a history of filing similar cases against "almost half a dozen individuals" in Varanasi.

"This is her profession," Chaubey alleged.