"The incident was done to politically decimate me," said Noida politician Shrikant Tyagi.
Shrikant Tyagi, who was arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police for allegedly abusing and assaulting a woman in Noida, on Tuesday said that woman was like her sister and that a conspiracy was hatched to "politically decimate" him.
Surajpur court sent Tyagi to a 14-day judicial custody for allegedly assaulting and abusing a woman at Grand Omaxe society in Noida
Speaking to media persons while being taken from the court, Tyagi said the woman was like his sister and claimed that the incident was a political plot aimed at decimating him politically.
"I express my regret on the incident. She is like my sister, the incident is political and was done to politically decimate me," said Tyagi.
Earlier, the Noida Police said that Tyagi was using an MLA sticker on his car. He had said during questioning that the sticker was given to him by Uttar Pradesh MLC Swami Prasad Maurya. It has not been disclosed if Tyagi was in touch with a politician, the police said.
During a press conference, Commissioner of Police Alok Singh said Tyagi has been arrested near Meerut. His three associates have also been arrested.
Noida Police have registered a case against Tyagi and others under the charge of outraging the modesty of a woman.
Mr Singh said that a video of the August 5 incident emerged on social media but the matter was not reported to the police by the victim. Police reached out to the victim after which a case was lodged and a search for the accused began.
Initially, police said, eight teams were constituted to catch Shrikant Tyagi. But he could not be traced as he was changing his locations and mobile devices. The number of search teams was then increased to 12, police said.
Tyagi went to Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Haridwar and Rishikesh. He was eventually arrested in Meerut along with the people sheltering him.
The Commissioner of Police said that the dispute was related to the use of the common area in society and had started back in 2019.
"There is a zero-tolerance policy against crime against women and children," the officer said.
The Police Commissioner also said Tyagi was using a VIP number series 001 of Lucknow transport authority on his vehicle. These numbers were acquired through bidding of not less than Rs 1 lakh each. Police have recovered five vehicles used by Tyagi, including four SUVs. "We are invoking the Gangster Act against Tyagi," he added.
Tyagi claims to be a member of the BJP's Kishan Morcha, but the party has denied any association with him.
Noida Police had said that IPC sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 447 (punishment for criminal trespass) have been added to the FIR registered on Friday.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)