Madhya Pradesh Minister's Son Allegedly Assaults Couple, Police Case Filed

A case has been registered against the son of a Madhya Pradesh minister for allegedly assaulting a restaurant owner and his wife, an official said on Sunday.

In a related matter, four cops were suspended after the accused, Abhigyan Patel, alleged that he and his friends were manhandled by policemen.

Abhigyan, aged around 30, is the son of Madhya Pradesh Minister of State for Health Narendra Shivaji Patel.

Efforts to contact the minister through his government public relations officer Ankush Mishra did not succeed.

According to the police, Abhigyan, who was on a four-wheeler, had a tiff with a journalist riding a two-wheeler at Trilanga crossing in the city around 8 pm on Saturday.

The minister's son allegedly assaulted the journalist, prompting the owner of a nearby restaurant and his wife to intervene. Abhigyan allegedly thrashed them too, the official said citing the FIR against the minister's son.

When the victims reached the Shahpura police station to file complaints, Abhigyan and his friends arrived there as well and allegedly kicked up a ruckus.

Abhigyan even allegedly misbehaved with the police when they were sending the couple and the journalist for a medical examination, triggering a heated argument between the minister's son and cops, the official said.

The police registered a case against Abhigyan under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 34 (common intention), 294 (abusing), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapon or means) and 506 (criminal intimidation) around midnight, said Bhopal city zone 1 Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Priyanka Shukla.

Acting on a counter-complaint by Abhigyan, the police have pressed similar charges against the restaurant owner and another person, she said.

The police official said four policemen were also suspended after Abhigyan and his friends accused the cops of manhandling them.

"An inquiry has been ordered into the conduct of policemen," she said.

Asked why they have not taken the complaint of the journalist, DCP Shukla said, "It was a sequence of incidents, that is why a single FIR against the minister's son was registered." The matter took a political turn on Sunday.

MP Congress chief Jitu Patwari demanded that an attempt-to-murder case be registered against Abhigyan and slammed the police for not registering a separate case against him on the journalist's complaint.

"We will provide a lawyer to the journalist to help him file a private complaint against the minister's son in a court," he said.

"I have talked to the senior police officer and brought the issue to the notice of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav through X," Patwari said, claiming that "lawlessness" prevails in MP.

"Congress won't sit quietly till the victims get justice," he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)