Tej Pratap’s bouncers assault devotees

Lalu Prasad’s elder son Tej Pratap is again in the news for the wrong reasons. This time his bouncers and private security men have assaulted several devotees who had gone to Deogarh to pay obeisance to Lord Shiva on the occasion of ‘Shraavan’ festival.

As per the established norm and practice, one pays obeisance to Lord Shiva on Monday on the occasion of ‘Sawan’. Tej Pratap too collected Ganga water from Sultanganj (in Bihar) and left for Deogarh (in Jharkhand) where Shiva Bhakts (devotees) assemble to offer prayers at the much-revered temple.

On seeing Tej Pratap dressed up like Lord Shiva, some of the devotees expressed their desire to be clicked with Lalu’s son. Many of the devotees requested for a selfie. Soon, the list of those seeking selfies grew. On this, Tej Pratap’s bouncers reportedly assaulted some of the devotees.

Hours back, when Tej Pratap’s cavalcade was on way from Sultanganj to Deogarh, his bouncers attacked an electronic media team. “When the OB van of the media tried to overtake Tej Pratap’s vehicle, his bouncers pounced on the driver and thrashed him. Two female reporters on the OB van protested bouncers’ high-handedness. But Tej Pratap did not intervene. He just changed the vehicle and proceeded further in a Scorpio,” said an eye-witness here on Monday.

The JD (U) has slammed Tej Pratap for abuse of power. “During the Lalu-Rabri era, Lalu’s two bothers-in-law, Sadhu Yadav and Subhash Yadav behaved like an extra-constitutional authority. Now Lalu’s two sons - Tej Pratap and Tejashwi are on the same path of abuse of power. Tej Pratap is indulging in ‘goondagardi’ (hooliganism) even when on the way to offer prayers to God. This is one reason why they (RJD) have been outrightly rejected by the Bihar voters,” said JD (U) spokesperson Sanjay Singh.

In May this year, Tej Pratap’s bouncers had attacked mediamen in Patna as well.