AAP lawmaker Alka Lamba was attacked with a stone during an anti-drug drive
A day after the Aam Aadmi Party's Alka Lamba was attacked during her anti-drug drive in a crowded market place in north Delhi, her critics say CCTV footage proves that the lawmaker asked for trouble. The Delhi Police has filed a case of trespass against Ms Lamba after complaints by shopkeepers.
Here are 10 developments in the story:
The CCTV footage, apparently from a sweet shop in Chandni Chowk, Ms Lamba's constituency, shows her walking straight to the counter of a shop and toppling a billing machine. The man next to her then pushes everything off the table.
In the same area, Ms Lamba was attacked with a stone, allegedly by a 19-year-old who was chased and caught by the lawmaker's supporters.
Alka Lamba's early morning raid was aimed at shops in the area that she alleges are illegal and help drug peddlers operate freely.
One of the shops Alka Lamba visited allegedly belongs to BJP lawmaker OP Sharma, who hit out at his AAP colleague using egregious terms and also said she will "go back in a stretcher" if she returns to the area.
"Whether she (Alka Lamba) is helping people fight addiction or is addicted herself is a matter of investigation. Whatever you see on the CCTV footage is not the action of a normal person. She took hooligans along," OP Sharma said.
AAP leader Ashutosh said that the suspect was caught from a shop which was owned by OP Sharma. "Alka Lamba was calling the police who were standing there and didn't help. So the reaction was natural," he said on the CCTV footage.
Ms Lamba also claimed that the CCTV footage showed what happened after she was attacked, and a reaction to police inaction on an alleged drugs racket.
On Sunday, after she tweeted and talked about the attack on her, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had tweeted, "Proud of you, Alka."
Alka Lamba's campaign was compared by some to another controversial incident involving another AAP leader, former law minister Somnath Bharti. Last year, Somnath Bharti was accused of targeting African nationals in a midnight raid against an alleged sex and drugs racket in his constituency.
AAP alleges that its lawmakers are being targeted by the Delhi Police, which reports to the Centre. "In six months they have arrested three of our MLAs. I have told them, all of us will surrender and work from Tihar Jail," Mr Kejriwal said on Sunday.
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