BHOPAL: State BJP vice president and former MLA Sudarshan Gupta and his supporters have been booked by police in Indore for throwing social distancing norms to the winds while organizing Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar's birthday celebrations on Friday.
A case under Section 188 of IPC was registered against Gupta (the ex MLA from Indore I seat) and his aides for violation of prohibitory orders imposed under Section 144 of CrPc.
Gupta and his supporters had organized the birthday celebrations of Tomar in Indore's Malharganj area on Friday.
Social distancing norms went for a toss at the celebrations in the open ground as packets of food grains were distributed among a large crowd without following the social distancing norms.
Taking cognizance of the violation of prohibitory orders during the birthday celebrations, the case was registered by local police at Malharganj police station, the DIG-Indore HN Chari Mishra confirmed to The New Indian Express on Saturday.
Earlier, on Friday around 25-30 opposition Congress workers were arrested for holding a protest in Indore sans permission. Those arrested included the party's Indore unit president Vinay Baklliwal.
The Congress leaders were staging a protest against state CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday in the wake of a leaked audio clip recently in which Chouhan is heard saying to his party workers that the Congress government in the state was toppled in MP after a decision by the BJP central leadership.
The state's largest and most populated city Indore is the prime COVID hotspot of MP with around 4000 cases and 164 deaths so far.
The Malharganj area where the ex BJP MLA had organized the celebrations to mark the Union minister's birthday also houses one of the containment areas of Indore.