- Dalit engineer was assaulted by a BJP worker, a former functionary of the party, in Ballia
- Munna Singh hit engineer with a shoe and allegedly used caste slurs during the attack
- The BJP worker claimed the engineer first attacked him when he went there to file a complaint
A Dalit engineer was thrashed by a BJP worker with a shoe at the electricity department's office in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia, showed a viral video. The politician also used caste slurs while attacking him, alleged Superintending Engineer Lal Singh on Saturday.
Narrating the incident, the engineering said two dozen men stormed his office and started thrashing him without giving any reason. Among them was Munna Bahadur Singh, who claimed to be a former mandal president of the BJP.
Munna Singh, who appeared angry in the video, was also seen screaming at the officials. He charged at the engineer and tried to manhandle him. They were briefly separated but he returned with a shoe in his hand and repeatedly hit the engineer, the video showed.
"Munna Bahadur Singh barged inside with 20-25 men and started thrashing me. He didn't ask me anything, neither did he share his grievance. He hit my head with a shoe, punched me, and abused me using caste slurs. Other staff then intervened and saved me," the engineer told reporters.
He informed that CCTV was not working in his office, and that the attack was filmed by an office staff. He later went for a medical checkup and lodged a police complaint.
Meanwhile, Munna Singh also reached the district hospital with wounds that he claimed he sustained in an attack by the engineer and his colleagues.
He told reporters that the engineer had first abused him when he had gone to the electricity office with a complaint regarding power disruption in nearby villages. He claimed that they spoke politely, but the office staff ganged up on them and assaulted them with sharp weapons.
"I am a BJP worker. About 10-12 of us had gone there with an application. He asked us to wait when we tried to share our grievance. When we insisted on being heard and said we would do dharna, he abused us. He and his colleagues then held us by our collars and thrashed us. They attacked us with sharp weapons," he told reporters, showing the bandages on his body.
The engineer has denied Munna Singh's claim, saying he is not aware of any such incident.
The police have registered a case against Munna Bahadur Singh under relevant sections and teams have been formed to arrest him, said Kripa Shankar, Additional Superintendent of Police, Ballia.
(With inputs from Karuna Sindhu Singh)
