Five held for Satna civic officer's assault

BHOPAL: Cops arrested five people for assault on a municipal officer in Ram Nagar town. While one of the accused was arrested on Saturday, the remaining four including chairman of the municipal council were arrested late on Friday night.


The incident took place on Friday when Satna Nagar Panchayat chief medical officer (CMO) Devvrat Soni was beaten up by a BJP leader, panchayat chairman Ramsushil Patel and other accomplices.

Police arrested Ramsushil, Avnish Patel, Shivshankar Patel and Mahendra Patel on Friday night.

“On Saturday, another accused, identified as Rajendra Patel , seen beating the victim in the viral videos, was arrested. There were four accused in the complaint and five others were identified through videos and CCTV footages. So far, five have been arrested and I have announced a reward of Rs10,000 on each of the remaining accused,” SP Satna Riyaz Iqbal said. “The station house officer (SHO) of Ram Nagar police station has also been shifted,” he said.

The CMO is undergoing treatment at a hospital. Police said that Soni was injured after he was allegedly beaten up by BJP panchayat president Ram Sushil Patel with canes. Meanwhile, footages of the assault went viral on various social media platforms. Sources said the incident took place due to a dispute between the two.

Soni had earlier sought police protection citing threat to his life from Patel.