Rajkot, May 11 (IANS): An official of the theft prevention team of Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Ltd (PGVCL) has alleged that he was assaulted by a mob led by BJP leader Dhirubhai Talpada at Movia village in Rajkot district.

The injured official has been admitted to a private hospital for treatment.

Narrating the entire episode, PGVCL's Junagadh range Deputy Engineer H.M. Parmar said that the PGVCL has launched a drive to check power theft, and as part of this exercise, a team lead by Deputy Engineer Purohit visited Movia village on Wednesday morning.

During the drive, the team detected power theft at the residence and industrial unit of BJP leader Dhirubhai Talpada.

When Talpada learnt about PGVCL's action, he rushed to the plant with a mob of around 40 people and attacked the team. Eight to 10 persons, including Talpada, reportedly slapped Purohit multiple times. He was also beaten with a stick and suffered injuries on his face and head.

A complaint has been lodged with the Paddhari police station against the BJP leader and 15 others.

One junior official captured the incident on his cellphone, but he was forced by the mob to delete the video. Now the mobile will be sent to the cyber security team to retrieve the video.

Refuting the PGVCL official's allegation, Talpada alleged that the team had entered his house when women were alone at home. The officials also misbehaved with the women, Talpada alleged, adding that if the CCTV footages are checked, nothing wrong will be found.