AAP office attacked over Prashant Bhushan`s Kashmir remarks; RSS denies role

Zee Media Bureau

Ghaziabad: A group of unidentified people attacked the Aam Aadmi Party office in Ghaziabad`s Kaushambhi here on Wednesday. The men, who came in a group of cars, threw stones and vandalised the AAP office, Ghaziabad SSP Dharmendra Singh told a news channel. Singh said the mob consisting of some 50-60 people attacked the party office. The men said they belonged to Hindu Raksha Dal. A party worker said the men, who were carrying red flags, attacked them and even misbehaved with women. The worker added that before fleeing, the attackers threatened to attack AAP leaders in the future too. Vishnu Gupta, who claimed to belong to the Hindu Raksha Dal, told another news channel that they took the action in response to AAP leader Prashant Bhushan`s remarks on referendum in Jammu and Kashmir. Later, Bhupendra Tomar alias Pinky Chaudhary, the national convenor of the Hindu Raksha Dal, surrendered before police at the Indirapuram police station. Tomar is believed to have led the protests and vandalisation. "We are against the statement made by Prashant Bhushan (on army deployment in the Kashmir Valley), and will not tolerate such statements," Tomar said. "I have committed no crime. The police came to my party office and I surrendered." The SSP further said that some people have been identified and that licence number plates of some cars have also been noted. He said the UP police had deployed security at the AAP office earlier, but the same was removed at AAP leaders` behest. He further stated that the police would now review the security deployment there. “We have some CCTV and mobile footage... will try to identify the culprits,” said Ranvijay Singh, CO, Indirapuram. Following the incident, security has also been tightened at the Delhi Secretariat. The AAP has condemned the attack. “Violent protestors attacked on #AAP Kaushambi Office, damaged property. No one hurt. We condemn such coward act and request quick action (sic),” the party said on Twitter. Meanwhile, RSS sources told a news agency that they have nothing to do with the attack on AAP office. The BJP too condemned the incident. “We (BJP) condemn the incident on the AAP office,” said party spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman.