GURUGRAM: An electricity department officer had, earlier this month, thrashed a school teacher and his handicapped father. The father-son duo claimed to have recorded on a cellphone sub-divisional officer Jagmohan’s alleged demand for a bribe of Rs 1 lakh in a dispute over their electricity

. This is what allegedly led to the confrontation.

There were many witnesses to the incident because it happened in full public view on the street outside power

Dakshin Haryana Bidyut Vitaran Nigam’s (DHBVN) main office in Sector 18. It was a working day, November 7. The father-son duo filed a police complaint the next day and an FIR was filed against Jagmohan. But there was no follow-up action.

Six days passed quietly. But as with such videos, they gain a life of their own, spinning around the arteries of social media and popping up on phone screens everywhere. In six days, it became enough of a talking point for the chief minister’s office to take note; the video had reached Twitter and people had started tagging the CM.

With the chief minister’s office directing police to take “appropriate action”, and the video of the thrashing coming into media attention, questions began to be asked of the police too. “No arrest has been made so far because the probe is under way,” explained the investigating officer, ASI Ravinder.

Jagmohan, meanwhile, told TOI the charges against him were false and the father-son duo had planned this because they were accused in a power theft case. He also claimed to have lodged a complaint against them. Police did not confirm if they had received the complaint but said no such FIR had been filed.

Amit Yadav (32), a teacher at a private school and resident of Sector 46, said the electricity meter of his house burnt down due to a snag on September 26. His father Suresh Yadav, the owner of the house, filed a complaint with the discom and requested replacement of the meter.

The meter was replaced by the discom on November 4 and Suresh was called to the discom office in Sector 18 for an inspection of the old meter. According to rules, when a meter is replaced, the old meter must be inspected by a discom official in the presence of the house owner to check if there was any tampering to manipulate readings.

“On November 7, I had accompanied my father, who is 70% disabled, to the discom office.

Jagmohan, a junior engineer and a woman officer asked me to stand outside the room and they started discussing something with my father. After I heard sounds of an argument coming from there, I put my phone on video recording mode and entered the room,” Amit said. “Inside, I saw my father telling the SDO that the seal on the meter was intact and the lineman had submitted a report, so there was no need for him to pay a bribe. My father saw me and pointed towards a sheet of paper, saying they were asking Rs 1 lakh from him,” he added.

Jagmohan allegedly objected to this and dragged Amit outside the office. He, along with a few other officials, then thrashed Amit and snatched his phone. They also attacked Suresh when he tried to intervene. Amit and Suresh left the office after that and went to hospital for a checkup. After they informed police, cops came to the hospital and recorded their statements. The FIR was registered against Jagmohan under sections 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), and 379B (snatching by force) of the IPC.

With the video coming to the CMO’s notice, Jagmohan told TOI he had filed a complaint against Suresh. “He had come to the office with a plan in mind and was carrying a pistol. I have submitted a complaint against him at Sector 18 police station for threatening to kill and obstructing a government official’s work. At the time of the incident, I was in the office of the executive engineer. I came out of the office only after being called by a junior engineer,” Jagmohan said.