Pradyot Dev Burman slapped a man accused of trying to attack his sister's convoy.
Tripura Congress president Pradyot Dev Burman has landed in a controversy for slapping a rival party member accused of trying to stone a convoy carrying his sister on Thursday. The incident was captured by a CCTV camera installed in a police station where the incident occurred.
Mr Burman's sister -- Pragya Dev Burman -- is being fielded by the Congress from the East Tripura Lok Sabha constituency. The man, a supporter of the ruling Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), was arrested by security personnel while allegedly trying to target the convoy with stones.
CCTV footage shows the man in a red shirt sitting on a bench in a police station as Pradyot Dev Burman and his supporters enter the room. The man rises to his feet and brings his hands together in greeting when the Congress chief suddenly slaps him across the face. Police personnel separate the two, following which Pradyot Dev Burman treats him to an angry rant before walking away.
The stone-throwing incident took place while Pragya Dev Burman was on her way back from a rally at a tribal hamlet in Khowai district. "We were returning from a public meeting in Tulashikhar area when an IPFT supporter tried to throw a stone at my car. It seems there were more people with him," Pragya Dev Burman told reporters.
While the IPFT denied allegations that its supporter had tried to stone the rival candidate's convoy, senior BJP leader Ratan Lal Nath claimed that the video footage clearly shows how Pradyot Dev Burman "aims to terrorise his political opponents" into submission. "If he can manhandle a person inside a police station, he can murder anybody anywhere," the law minister said.
The Congress president, however, maintained that both the BJP and the IPFT were trying to protect a "goon".
The East Tripura constituency will go to the polls on April 23.
(With inputs from PTI)