A non-cognisable report (NCR) was logged on Monday against Delhi public works department ( PWD ) minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Parvesh Verma on Monday, a day after he was seen slapping a man, later identified as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) worker Saheb Singh, even as Delhi Police registered a first information report against AAP MLA Jarnail Singh in a separate complaint filed by a PWD official.
On Monday, Delhi Police registered an NCR against the minister under section 115 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). An NCR pertains to relatively minor offences where police cannot arrest an accused or begin an investigation without a magistrate’s permission. An FIR, on the other hand, records a cognisable offence, in which police can arrest a suspect without a warrant and initiate the legal process. Separately, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal also visited the site where the incident took place along with Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, Jarnail Singh, national media in-charge Anurag Dhanda and party workers. The former Delhi CM demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi dismiss Verma, have him arrested and make him apologise to the people of Delhi over the incident. He also demanded a thorough probe into the alleged corruption in the construction of the road and action against officials found responsible.
AAP alleged that the incident followed questions over the quality of road construction, while Verma said he reacted after AAP workers allegedly abused his family. A senior police officer said that the FIR was registered on charges of criminal intimidation and obstruction of duty, but did not confirm whether Jarnail Singh had been named. Police said all five complaints were submitted at the Vikaspuri and Tilak Nagar police stations. Delhi BJP president Harsh Malhotra said the incident involving Verma “should not have happened”, but alleged that the confrontation followed deliberate abusive language and an attempt to vitiate the atmosphere.
The incident took place on Sunday when Verma was conducting an inspection of roadworks in west Delhi ’s Vikaspuri. Apart from the one filed by Saheb Singh against Verma and the two by PWD officials against Jarnail Singh and others on Sunday, police on Monday said two more complaints were filed by BJP workers alleging that Verma was mistreated during the incident.
