Chandigarh police book AAP councillor Ram Chander Yadav for assault

Chandigarh, July 7

Four days after an AAP councillor and a contractor who deals in furniture items, filed counter-complaints of assault, the UT police last evening registered a case against ward No. 15 councillor Ram Chander Yadav at the Sarangpur police station.

According to the police, complainant Pardeep Bansal, a resident of Panchkula, had alleged Yadav, a resident of small flats in Dhanas, along with other unidentified persons, thrashed him and his driver at the Community Centre, Dhanas, on the evening of July 2.

Pardeep in his complaint had alleged he had received a call from the councillor who asked him to come to the Community Centre. On reaching there, the councillor allegedly told the complainant the plywood of his table was damaged. After checking the table, Pardeep told the councillor it was fine, but the councillor claimed it didn’t agree and asked him to “pay me for it”, he alleged.

Following this, he and his driver were allegedly thrashed by around five persons.

A case under Sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC has been registered against the councillor. No case has so far been registered on the complaint filed by the councillor.

The councillor, on the other hand, claimed Pardeep, who had supplied furniture to the municipal corporation, had called him up asking to meet him. The councillor claimed Pardeep arrived at the community centre and accused him of creating hurdles in clearance of his bill. The councillor alleged he was punched twice by a person accompanying Pardeep.

Meanwhile, the city unit of AAP has objected to the FIR, saying the contractor should have been booked instead. “The councillor had told the contractor over the phone he was going to Mohali, yet the contractor reached there to meet him. By making false and fabricated allegations, the contractor can’t escape his crime,” said party unit president Prem Garg in a statement.

Garg said Yadav had told the contractor he had no role in the payment of furniture. Still, the contractor was pressuring to meet him.

“When the councillor had lodged a complaint with the police against the contractor, why did the cops not take cognizance of it? It is clear contractor was planted to defame the party. If an FIR is not registered against the contractor, the party will hold a march against the police,” said Garg.