Digvijaya Singh booked for dharna outside police station in Chhatarpur during poll code

Digvijaya Singh and 50+ Congress workers face FIR for violating Model Code of Conduct; police probe into death of Congress worker underway.

Days after Congress Rajya Sabha MP and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh staged an overnight sit-in outside Khajuraho Police Station in Chhatarpur district, an FIR has been filed against him along with more than 50 Congress workers for allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct . 

According to the police, the FIR has been filed under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) for holding the protest without a valid permission from the authorities while the Model Code of Conduct is in force in the State. Congress MLA and candidate from Chhatarpur’s Rajnagar seat Vikram Singh Nati Raja has also been named in the FIR, the police said.

On November 18, Mr. Singh had staged a sit-in had spent the night in a tent outside the police station to demand action against BJP candidate from Rajnagar, Arvind Pateriya, who along with his supporters is an accused of mowing over a local Congress worker to death in the morning of November 17, when the voting for the Assembly elections took place. 

Mr. Singh and Mr. Nati Raja have demanded that Mr. Pateriya be arrested and ended the sit-in after the police’s assurance of a swift and fair probe.

Speaking to The Hindu, Chhtarpur Superintendent of Police, Amit Sanghi said that the latest FIR was filed on the directions from the Additional District Magistrate who received a complaint from district BJP chief Malkhan Singh.

“Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Khajuraho, (the returning officer for the area) has also submitted a report saying that no permission was sought from him. So, we have taken action for violating the code of conduct,” he said. 

Mr. Sanghi had earlier said that the two candidates and their supporters had clashed on November 17 just hours before the polling began in the State and a Congress worker, Salman Khan, had died after he was run over by some vehicles.