‘Assault’ on JE: Congress councillor denied bail

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, March 26

Congress councillor Pankaj Valmiki from Ward Number 6 was today denied bail by a local court in the case registered against him for allegedly assaulting a junior engineer of the local Municipal Corporation yesterday, after the police added Section 307 of the IPC (attempt to murder) to the FIR against him, which is a non-bailable offence.

The police had earlier registered a case against the Pankaj Valmiki, Akshay Chaudhary, councillor of Ward Number 17, and some unknown persons under Sections 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of his public functions), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from doing his duty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of Rs50) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code at the Sector 14 police station. Later, on the basis of medical evidence, the police added the attempt-to-murder charge to the FIR. The councillor was sent to 14-day judicial custody.

Pankaj Valmiki and Akshay Chaudhary had entered into a clash with the JE after heated arguments over some pending development work.

Meanwhile, the police were yet to convert into an FIR a counter complaint filed by Pankaj Valmiki against the JE. The Sector 14 SHO, Inspector Ram Bhagat, said acting on a complaint filed by the councillor, they had registered a daily dairy report, but they would first go through the CCTV footage of the MC office before taking further action.

In his complaint, JE, Rohit Saini, who suffered head injuries in the assault, alleged that the two Congress councillors, along with their accomplices, attacked him in the Commissioner’s office after a heated exchange of words in the Deputy Municipal Commissioner Deepak Sura’s office.

The local unit of the Congress has alleged that the JE had been involved in similar acts and had misbehaved with his superiors in the past. —

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