Lucknow, Aug 20 (IANS): UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath suspended Ballia Sub-Divisional Magistrate Ashok Chaudhary on Thursday after a video went viral on social media in which he is seen hitting people for not wearing masks and maintaining social distancing.
Chaudhary can be seen hitting people with a stick at the tehsil office and he did not even spare senior citizens.
Those who wore 'gamchas' or traditional cotton towels to cover their faces were also targeted by the SDM.
Several people were injured in the SDM's 'campaign' and later a youth can be seen in the video with his hand bleeding profusely.
The incident led to tremendous anger among businessmen and the local people.
According to the official spokesman, the chief minister took cognisance of the incident and ordered action against the official who has been attached to the revenue department.