FIR against J'khand DM after BJP MPs booked for 'forced' ATC entry

New Delhi, September 3

The Delhi Police on Saturday registered a “Zero FIR” against Deoghar District Magistrate Manjunath Bhajantri and slapped sedition charges among others on a complaint by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey. The complaint was registered at the North Avenue police station.

Charges were pressed under sections of the Indian Penal Code and Officials Secrets Act.

This followed an FIR filed by the Jharkhand Police naming Nishikant Dubey, his fellow BJP MP Manoj Tiwari and seven others, including Dubey’s two sons, for allegedly entering the Air Traffic Control (ATC) room at Deoghar airport without permission on Wednesday.

They allegedly forced the staff to give their chartered plane clearance for take-off 45 minutes after flight operations at the airport officially closed for the day. The FIR was registered at the Kunda police station after Suman Anand, a DSP posted at the airport, gave a written complaint in which the Deoghar airport director Sandeep Kumar Dhingra and the pilot of the plane were also named, besides Dubey, Tiwari and five others.

They were booked under Sections 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 447 (punishment for criminal trespass), and 448 (punishment for house trespass) of the IPC. Anand alleged the BJP leaders and others violated all safety standards by entering the ATC room and pressuring the officials for clearance to take-off. The BJP leaders had come to Deoghar to go to Dumka to meet the family members of the schoolgirl who died after allegedly being set ablaze by a man. The incident happened when they were returning to Delhi after their visit.

After the incident, there was also a war of words on Twitter between Bhanjantri and Dubey. The development came at a time when the state’s ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is engaged a bitter political fight with the BJP with the JMM accusing the BJP of poaching its MLAs.

Jharkhand Governor in Delhi

Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais arrived in New Delhi on Saturday amid suspense over CM Soren’s future as MLA. However, sources said he had come for a routine checkup at AIIMS.