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Updated: May 25, 2020 22:17 IST

The Madhya Pradesh Police on Wednesday arrested Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Akash Vijayvargiya, son of party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, for the alleged assault of a civic body official supervising a demolition drive in Indore, a senior police officer said.

A video of the incident, in which the first-time legislator is seen hitting the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) official, Dhirendra Bais, with a cricket bat, was widely circulated on social media.

Akash Vijayvargiya was arrested and charged under sections 353 (assault to deter a public servant from discharging his duty), 294 (obscene acts using obscene words), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation), 147 (punishment for rioting), and 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon) of the Indian Penal Code, said BPS Parihar, city superintendent of police. The MLA from the Indore-3 assembly constituency was later produced in a court, which remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days.

Bais alleged he was attacked by the MLA when he, along with his colleagues, had gone to demolish a dilapidated building owned by a BJP worker in Indore’s Ganji area on Wednesday morning. He claimed a notice had already been served on the owner of the building. “But he [the owner] and his family started protesting when we reached there. Soon, MLA Vijayvargiya reached the spot and threatened us. He told us to leave or face the consequences and then he hit me repeatedly with a cricket bat,” Bais said.

Earlier in the day, Indore Municipal Committee union leader Umakant Kale had said that the entire staff of the civic body had gone on strike, which would continue until strong action was taken against the legislator.

WATCH: BJP MLA beats civic officer with cricket bat, video goes viral

Madhya Pradesh home minister Bala Bachchan condemned the assault and said a first information report had been registered against the MLA. Action would be taken in line with the law, he said. Akash Vijayvargiya claimed that Bais had “misbehaved with women, which angered me”. He also termed the demolition drive a conspiracy by some leaders of the ruling Congress to “grab the prime land”.

BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said, “The party is looking into the matter. However, MLA Akash Vijayvargiya’s allegation that the IMC officials were misbehaving with women is serious and that Congress leaders are behind the demolition needs to be probed.” Congress party media cell in-charge Shobha Oza said, “Akash Vijayvargiya is lying in a bid to justify his actions. No Congress minister is involved. In fact, the IMC had issued the demolition notice for that particular building in 2018 also, because it was dilapidated.”