A candidate for the post of Panchayat head in Bihar's Aurangabad district who lost the election has been arrested after a video of him assaulting two Dalit men went viral.
The candidate, Balwant Singh, has been accused of blaming the Dalit community for his loss and beating up two people from the community as they allegedly did not vote for him.
Balwant can be heard mentioning that he paid the two voters, and they still didn't vote for him. He is seen verbally abusing the two men and punishing them by making them do sit-ups while holding their ears.
He then proceeds to physically assault one of them and forces him to spit on the ground and lick it. He can be seen holding him by the neck and forcing him to the ground.
NDTV cannot independently verify the authenticity of the video that has surfaced today.
Balwant has alleged that the two men were creating nuisance after getting drunk, and he punished them for it after they got sober. The video, however, establishes that Balwant was talking about having paid them.
The police have acted swiftly and arrested the accused after directions from the district's Superintendent of Police Kantesh Kumar Mishra. The matter is being investigated, Mr Mishra said.
Drunk Men Thrash, Strip And Urinate On 6 Dalits In Tamil Nadu, Arrested: Cops 2 Dalit Men Paraded, Heads Shaved In Madhya Pradesh Over Dispute: Cops 2 Dalit Brothers, Accused Of Theft, Stripped And Tortured In Rajasthan "Congress Should Be Ready...": Mani Shankar Aiyar's Big INDIA Bloc Remark 3 Marriages, Rs 1.25 Crore: How 'Looting Bride' Targeted Rich Men Bashar Al-Assad's Wife Files For Divorce, Wants To Return To UK: Report Lower Your Blood Pressure This Winter With These Simple Tips Scammers, Fake Accounts, Controversial Figures: Bluesky's Many Struggles Women Raped As Families Watch, Children Killed: African Militia On Rampage Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.