Himachal minister booked for assaulting 2 NHAI engineers, Gadkari seeks fixing responsibility for inaction | India News

NEW DELHI/SHIMLA: Shimla police registered an FIR in opposition to rural growth and Himachal Pradesh minister Anirudh Singh Rana late Monday night time for allegedly assaulting two NHAI engineers officers who have been visiting the location of a collapsed five-storey constructing.The FIR was registered on the idea of NHAI supervisor Achal Jindal’s criticism at Dhali police station beneath 5 sections of BNS coping with assaulting a public servant, voluntarily inflicting damage, intentional insult with intent to impress breach of peace, wrongful restraint and customary intention. Jindal in his criticism, which TOI reported first on Tuesday, had alleged that he and an assistant engineer have been assaulted in presence of native SDM and others, and needed to be hospitalised.The “brutal assault” was condemned by Union highway transport minister Nitin Gadkari “It’s deeply disturbing that such an assault occurred in the presence of SDM concerned and police officials…Failure of the local administration to intervene and protect NHAI officers or provide immediate medical assistance to them further compound the gravity of this incident,” Gadkari wrote to HP CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.Seeking sturdy motion in opposition to all perpetrators, Gadkari has sought “fixing responsibility of the administrative and police officials concerned for their inaction”. He cautioned that “continued inaction” could immediate the ministry to “reassess ongoing and future projects”.“I spoke with Union minister Nitin Gadkari this morning. I assured him that we will take action as per law.” Sukhu later told reporters.NHAI Engineers’ Association were, however, unhappy with state govt’s response and said that the FIR “invokes weak sections” of BNS.He alleged that the minister then abused him in the presence of the SDM and local residents, called the two NHAI officials to a nearby room and started hitting Jindal on the head with a water pitcher. When the site engineer tried to save him, he too was allegedly beaten. Since the people present there, including the SDM, allegedly did not help in any way, the NHAI officials ran away from the spot and drove to Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla, for treatment.