BHOPAL: A politician, who had polled fewer votes than NOTA in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, was arrested in Satna along with an aide late Tuesday night for forcing a man to lick their spit, and beating him mercilessly. They took a video of it, and it’s the viral footage that led to their arrest.
Police identified the main accused as Shashank Singh Baghel, who had unsuccessfully contested the Satna parliamentary seat for SAPAKS, an uppercaste party, and polled 2,450 votes, 194 less than NOTA. Satna SP Dharmveer Singh Yadav has written to the district collector to book him under National Security Act. The other man in custody is Vinay Singh. Two other accused are on the run and police have announced rewards of Rs 10,000 each for their arrest.
The incident took place on August 15 near Nagaud town, 30km from Satna district headquarters and 400km from state capital Bhopal.
Shashank, Vinay and two others took Santosh Pandey, 33, in a car to a deserted place where they allegedly beat him black and blue, spit on the ground and made him lick it.
They also filmed the entire episode and posted it on social media. On Tuesday, when the video went viral, police officers took note of it and ordered a search for the four men. The SP announced cash rewards for their arrest.
“Two of them, including main accused Shashank Singh Baghel, were arrested late in the night. I am writing to book him under NSA. We are looking for the other two,” the SP told TOI. Sources said Shashank and Vinay were caught in neighbouring Sidhi district and brought to Satna. They were produced in court, which remanded them in police custody for two days.
“Preliminary findings have revealed there was some monetary dispute between the accused and the victim, which led to the incident,” said SP Yadav.
