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The Times of India
The Times of India
National
TNN

'What if it’s poisoned': Akhilesh Yadav on tea offered at police headquarters

LUCKNOW: A piquant situation prevailed on Sunday morning when Samajwadi Party chief and former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav reached the state police headquarters unannounced to protest against the arrest of a party worker and refused to have tea that the police officers offered as courtesy, saying, "What if the tea was laced with poison".

According to the police, when the officers later informed the former CM about the FIR in which the party worker, Manish Jagan Agarwal, was arrested, Akhilesh calmed down and also had tea with the cops before he left.

Around 11 am, the SP chief along with MLAs, MLCs and party workers reached the police headquarters to question the police on the arrest of Manish Jagan Agarwal, a member of the SP’s IT cell. Akhilesh along with some MLAs and MLCs was allowed inside while the party workers – who had gathered in large numbers and were raising slogans against the alleged police excesses – waited outside.

Once inside the police headquarters building, senior officials of Lucknow police who had reached the venue by then offered tea to the former UP CM, to which Akhilesh Yadav said: Yahan ki chai nahi piyenge … bahar ki piyenge … ya hum apni layenge ... cup apka le lenge … hum nahi pi sakte … zeher de doge tab … humein bharosa nahi hai … sach mein bharosa nahi hai humein … aap apni pijiye ... hum apni piyenge (I will not have tea served here ... We will get our own tea from outside … we can use your cups ... what if you poison me … I don’t trust … I really don’t trust …)."

Additional director general of police (ADG), law and order, Prashant Kumar later told reporters that once the SP chief was apprised of the circumstances under which Manish Jagan Agarwal was arrested, provided with the details of the FIRs lodged and evidence on record along with electronic footprints obtained by the investigating officers, he left. Asked about him refusing tea offered by the police, the ADG said the SP chief had tea with the police officers present and left after his queries were addressed.

According to the ADG, the SP chief along with leaders and party workers reached the police headquarters unannounced and without any prior information. It was a Sunday morning, officers who were required to be present were available and were later joined by senior officials from the Lucknow police who addressed all the queries of the SP national president.

Asked about the protest by SP workers at the gates of the police headquarters, Prashant Kumar said the SP national chief, who is a sitting MLA, was allowed in with other legislators accompanying him while the crowd behind them were stopped outside, after which they started raising slogans. The Lucknow police reached the spot and handled the situation.

Hazratganj police had arrested Manish in connection with an FIR lodged against him on December 26 by local journalist Vishwa Gaurav Tripathi. The FIR was lodged under sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups, (153-B) assertions against national-integration, 295-A (hurting religious sentiments), 420 (fraud) of IPC and relevant sections of the IT Act in connection with a series of unsavory remarks made on the SP social media handle. Apart from Manish, Ashish Yadav and Udaiveer Singh have also been named as accused in the case.

DCP (Central) Aparna Rajat Kaushik said during the investigation, Manish’s role has also surfaced in another FIR that was registered by the social media in-charge of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha against unknown persons and the SP’s social media handle on January 4. The FIR said the complainant was allegedly cyberbullied and threatened of sexual assault by SP workers who used the party’s official Twitter handle for it. This FIR was lodged under sections 354 (A) (sexual harassment), 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC and IT Act at Hazratganj police station on January 4.

Manish Jagan Agarwal, described as an SP worker by the party, hails from Sitapur and is said to be a family member of Jagannath Prasad Agarwal, the two-time MLA and three-time MP who was a Rajya Sabha member in the tenure of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

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