Hyatt brawl: NBW issued against BSP ex-MP’s son

NEW DELHI: Even though a non-bailable warrant has been issued against Ashish Pandey, the son of a former BSP MP, and at least 12 police teams from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh are on his trail, he continues to evade arrest three days after he brandished his gun at a couple at a five-star hotel, the video of which had taken social media by storm.


Police on Wednesday said they have questioned 12 staff members of

Hyatt

Regency to ascertain the sequence of events and identify the lapses on the hotel’s part. In all, more than 50 people, including Ashish’s father, Rakesh Pandey, and his uncle have been questioned for clues about his whereabouts. Cops are also trying to contact the women who were with Ashish during the brawl and had returned to Dubai on Sunday evening. “The family has been asked to persuade Ashish to turn himself in and join the investigation,” said an officer. The probe has virtually hit a dead-end after police lost Ashish’s electronic trail in Basti in UP, located near Nepal border. Cops suspect he may have changed his looks to dodge policemen and informers. Even UP Police have not been able to get any leads from their human intelligence network.

Sources said police are likely to take help of artists to prepare images of him in disguise — without his beard or hair or wearing a turban — to use them to identify him. The warrant was issued after police approached court on Wednesday. Police told the court that they identified the accused as Lucknow native Ashish Pandey with the help of CCTV footage of the incident. “A team was dispatched to Ashish’s address and a raid was conducted, but he was not found. He is deliberately evading the process of law,” said an officer.

Pandey flaunted his licenced Mauser and threatened to shoot the couple at the porch of Hyatt Regency hotel early on Sunday. However, the incident came to the fore only on Tuesday night after a mobile video showing the entire episode went viral. The video was shot by a woman friend of Ashish who was in his

BMW

. The hotel didn’t inform police during or after the incident. A complaint was lodged only when cops approached them with the video on Tuesday morning. Police have served a show-cause notice to the hotel.