Three years after an Indore municipal corporation was beaten in front of the public by BJP MLA Akash Vijayvargiya using a cricket bat, the official has turned hostile in court, saying he does not know who had hit him. According to reports, the official Dhirendra Byas has now told the Indore district court that he does not recognise the person who had assaulted him.
On 18th February 2022, he told the court that he was talking on the mobile phone when the incident happened, and he didn’t see the attacker. Earlier, he had named Akash Vijayvargiya in his complaint as the attacker.
He further said as he was assaulted from his backside, he does not know who exactly was the one to hit him. He also said that when he turned back, he had seen three-four people holding bats in their hands and he had then named Akash Vijayvargiya in his complaint as he was also holding a cricket bat in his hands. The court will hear this matter next on 25th February 2022.
It may be noted that the incident was caught on camera, where BJP MLA Akash Vijayvargiya was seen assaulting Dhirendra Byas with a cricket bat. He was arrested following the incident, and a case was registered against him.
Akash Vijayvargiya had a fight of words with the municipal corporation officials of Indore over razing down an old building in the Ganji Compound area of Indore. He had hit the then corporation officer Dheerendra Bais with a cricket bat. Akash Vijayvargiya was arrested in this incident that took place on 26th June 2019. Till now this matter was being heard in a special court at Bhopal. Now that a special court has been formed in Indore in this regard, the statement recorded by the complainant officer Dheerendra Bais was cross-examined.
Senior lawyer Avinash Sirpurkar representing the BJP MLA in this case has informed that the complainant has told the judge that there were more than a hundred people when he had reached on the spot to raze the building. After 15 minutes, Akash Vijayvargiya had arrived there.
Reportedly, Bais has told the judge that he was talking on the mobile phone when he was assaulted with a cricket bat from behind. Turning back, he saw three-four people holding cricket bats in their hands. Akash Vijayvargiya was one of them. He was also holding a bat in his hands. So, Bais named him in the complaint. Other witnesses will be cross-examined on 25th February 2022, said Sirpurkar.