Vidisha, March 5 (IANS) A Congress leader and some of his associates have been booked for allegedly encroaching upon a government pond allotted to a private organisation and for allegedly threatening fishermen in Madhya Pradesh’s Vidisha district.
Police have registered a case against former Vidisha district Congress president Ashok Yadav and his associates Om Yadav and Rajiv Yadav under Sections 296(b), 351(1), 351(4) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), according to an FIR lodged at Sironj police station in Vidisha district on Thursday.
The case was registered on the basis of a written complaint filed by Kapil Kewat, a fisherman who is also the president of the Sironj-based ‘Veerangna Phoolan Devi Samiti’.
According to the complaint, the Madhya Pradesh government had leased out a pond to the ‘Veerangna Phoolan Devi Samiti’ for fishing activities.
However, Kapil Kewat alleged that Congress leader Ashok Yadav had encroached upon the pond and was threatening him and other members of the committee.
“He (Ashok Yadav) tried to create disruption during the foundation-laying ceremony on Thursday,” Kapil Kewat alleged, according to the FIR copy available with IANS.
In his complaint, Kewat also stated that the foundation-laying ceremony was being conducted under the supervision of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) member Priyank Kanoongo.
“On Thursday, when the bhumi-pujan ceremony was underway, Ashok Yadav reached the site and tried to create a disturbance. The rituals could be completed only after NHRC member Priyank Kanoongo intervened in the matter,” the FIR stated.
Priyank Kanoongo, who later accompanied Kapil Kewat to the Sironj police station, also commented on the matter.
He said the pond had been allotted to a committee of hereditary Hindu fishermen operating under the banner of the ‘Veerangna Phoolan Devi Samiti’.
“I personally visited the site today to inaugurate the work. The fishermen present informed me that Ashok Yadav, the former president of the Congress party in the district and a powerful local leader, is encroaching upon the pond and threatening poor fishermen not to work there,” Kanoongo wrote on X.
In his social media post, Kanoongo also alleged that Ashok Yadav and his associates attempted to extort money from fishermen present at the site during the programme on Thursday.
Tagging Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Jitu Patwari in his post, Kanoongo further wrote: “Congress leaders are requested not to exploit the poor, Dalits and tribals. We are already taking strict action.”
The Madhya Pradesh Congress had not issued any official statement on the matter till the filing of this report.
–IANS
pd/pgh