BJP legislator B Suresh Gowda allegedly assaulted toll booth manager in Tumkur district.
A BJP lawmaker in Karnataka was caught on CCTV manhandling a toll booth manager on Friday, after allegedly being asked to queue up at the highways toll plaza like other users. The lawmaker, sources said, was angry that the toll booth did not have a separate lane for VIPs like him.
CCTV footage from the toll booth in Tumkur's Kyathasandra toll plaza purportedly shows B Suresh Gowda, the BJP lawmaker from Tumkur Rural seat, walking into the office to look for the man in-charge. The manager came out of his room when he heard the commotion and greeted the lawmaker, who pushed him around. The manager mollified the lawmaker and took him to his room.
The 51-year-old legislator denied the allegation, calling it "a political gimmick".
"The toll booth is not managed properly, FASTAG lane, ambulances and VIPs all get held up in the traffic pile up. They don't manage the road properly, there have been deaths on a regular basis due to accidents. When I went to question this, they behaved arrogantly with me," Mr Gowda told NDTV.
The toll plaza is located on National Highways 48 between Delhi and Chennai.
Legislators are exempt from paying a fee at toll plazas on National Highways passing through their states. But they get the free ride only if they produce their identity card issued by the state legislature. At certain places, toll booth plazas have a lane for vehicles exempted from paying toll so that emergency vehicles do not have to waste time in the queue.
Sources said the toll booth manager, who had faced the lawmaker's ire, had refused to lodge a complaint with the police