13 arrested for attacking AAP office
Updated
Ghaziabad, Jan 8 (IANS) Thirteen people, including national convenor of the Hindu Raksha Dal Bhupendra Tomar alias Pinky Chaudhary, were arrested for an attack Wednesday on the AAP office in this Uttar Pradesh town bordering New Delhi, police officials said.
Tomar is believed to have led the protest and vandalisation at the AAP office in Kaushambi in Ghaziabad Wednesday. He surrendered at the Indirapuram police station.
"We are against the statement made by Prashant Bhushan (on army deployment in the Kashmir Valley), and will not tolerate such statements," Tomar told IANS.
"I have committed no crime. The police came to my party office and I surrendered," he told reporters at the police station.
Police also arrested 12 other people accused of attacking the AAP office.
According to police, complaints have been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code against "unknown" assailants and the Hindu Raksha Dal.
"We have registered complaints under Sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) and 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and other sections of IPC," said Superintendent of Police Muni Raj.
About 30 people attacked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) office near the residence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in Ghaziabad, shattering window panes and vandalising furniture. Police have since decided to bring the office under security cover.
Earlier Report
AAP office near Kejriwal home attacked
Ghaziabad, Jan 8 (IANS): Suspected Hindu activists attacked the AAP office here Wednesday, apparently to protest a statement on Kashmir made by party leader Prashant Bhushan, police and witnesses said.
The attackers, their number varying between 25 to 40, barged into the Aam Aadmi Party office at Kaushambi township, stoned it heavily shattering glass windows, broke flower pots and abused AAP leaders, AAP leader Dilip Pandey told IANS.
They also ransacked furniture inside the office.
The AAP office at Kaushambi is located not far from the personal residence of AAP founder leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Before fleeing after some 20 minutes, the attackers threatened to target AAP leaders in the future too. Pandey said they seemed to be from a group called Hindu Raksha Dal.
A Hindu Rakshal Dal banner was found at the site, Pandey said.
"All our volunteers were asked to get inside (the office) when the attack took place," Pandey said, adding the attackers raised slogans against a particular community.
AAP members present in the office did not retaliate.
Asked if the arson was a reaction to Bhushan's comments on army deployment in the Kashmir Valley, comments from which the AAP has distanced itself, Pandey said: "It may be possible."
The attackers, in their 20s and 30s, came in three or five cars, witnesses said.
Superintendent of Police Muniraj said a police complaint had been registered and police officers had been assigned to arrest the culprits.
Muniraj told IANS later that the AAP office would now be given security.
Some witnesses had furnished the police the registration numbers of the cars in which the men reached the AAP office. "We are hopeful of arresting them," Muniraj said.
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