RAICHUR: Police have registered a case against BJP leader Papareddy, who is also a former MLA, for slapping a constable in plain clothes here on Wednesday.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, here, Raichur SP Nikhil B said that police have collected video evidence of Papareddy slapping the constable Raghavendra.
The incident happened when the scheduled caste Morcha was staging a protest against the former chief minister Siddaramaiah who is also the leader of opposition in the State Assembly. During a recent election rally in Sindagi, Siddaramaiah allegedly said that Dalit leaders have quit Congress and joined BJP to secure their livelihood.
To protest against the alleged statement of Siddaramaiah, the BJP activists attempted to burn an effigy of the former CM. However, some of the police in mufti, including Raghavendra, prevented them and took away the effigy from the protest site.
Enraged by this, BJP leader Papareddy who is also a former MLA slapped police constable Reghavendra attached to Raichur West Police Station.
Speaking to the media after the incident, Papareddy said that he felt that the policeman in mufti might be a BJP activist participating in the agitation. He was in plain clothes and I thought he was our activist. He had held a BJP flag and took the effigy from the protest site, Papareddy claimed. Papareddy refused to appolgise to the constable, instead, he demanded action against him for unnecessarily interfering in the protest by BJP.
"Congress had burnt the effigy of the Prime Minister many times. They have burnt the effigy of former chief minister B. S. Yeddyurappa in front of Vidhana Soudha when he (Yeddyurappa) was the chief minister. Why did the police not prevent them from doing it then? Why do they have so much love for Siddaramaiah," he questioned.
Later the BJP activists burnt the effigy of Siddarmaiah.