AAP's Kaushambi office ransacked; Hindu Raksha Dal leader, 12 others arrested
Police arrests national convenor of Hindu Raksha Dal and 12 others in connection with incident.
Kaushambi: A group of people on Wednesday attacked the Aam Aadmi Party headquarters in Kaushambi here with bricks and stones apparently to protest party leader Prashant Bhushan's remarks on Kashmir.
Hours after the attack on Aam Aadmi Party's Kaushambi office here, Ghaziabad Police arrested the national convenor of Hindu Raksha Dal and 12 others in connection with the incident. Hindu Raksha Dal national convenor Pinki Choudhary was arrested from Sahibabad area here and an FIR was lodged against him, along with 30-40 unknown persons, in connection with the attack
"We have arrested an accused for the attack on AAP's office. Police are also scanning footage of CCTV installed at party's office to identify other accused, who would also be arrested soon," Rav Vijay Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police, told reporters here. Earlier in the day, activists of Hindu Raksha Dal attacked Aam Aadmi Party's Kaushambi office.
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The group of 50-60 people, who are believed to be members of a right-wing group, attacked the office, party sources said. Police said no one was injured in the attack. SSP Dharmendra Singh said, "We have identified some people. There were some residents of Ghaziabad and the numbers of their cars have been noted. Action against them will be initiated soon."
He said there was no security at the party office but policemen have now been deployed there and at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence which is just a kilometre away. He said they will again take up the issue of security with Kejriwal and try to convince him about that.
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Earlier, Kejriwal had turned down the security offered to him by Ghaziabad and Delhi Police. Bhushan had recently said a referendum should be carried out in Kashmir to decide on deployment of the army to deal with security threats in the Valley. However, the Aam Aadmi Party had distanced itself from his views.
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The Hindu Raksha Dal activists broke flower pots kept outside AAP's office and tore party posters. Some glass doors were also smashed in the attack.
"We today staged a protest against AAP's stand on Kashmir. AAP's leader Prashant Bhushan's remark on Kashmir is very sad for Hindus due to which we have staged protest outside party office," said Pinky Choudhary, national convenor, Hindu Raksha Dal.
"Some youths, who are said to belong to Hindu Raksha Dal, gathered outside the party office and raised slogans against AAP. They also broke flower pots placed outside party office," said Dilip Pandey, spokesperson, AAP. Police have registered a case against unknown persons.
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