Ex-Speaker’s mobile snatched during morning walk, accused held in 8 hrs

Times News Network

Raipur: Amid Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit to Chhattisgarh, mobile phone of a senior BJP leader and former Assembly Speaker Dharamlal Kaushik was allegedly snatched by bike-borne miscreants during a morning walk in Raipur on Monday, sparking a fresh political row over law and order in the state capital. However, the police nabbed the accused and recovered the stolen phone within eight hours.

Police said the incident occurred near the PWD bridge under the Civil Lines police station limits when the accused allegedly grabbed Kaushik’s phone and fled before he could react.

Within eight hours, police arrested a 19-year-old resident of Rajiv Nagar in Raipur who originally hails from Balodabazar-Bhatapara district. The stolen phone and the motorcycle allegedly used in the crime were seized. Police said the accused occasionally worked as a two-wheeler cab driver.

According to officials, a joint team of the crime branch and local police tracked the accused by scanning footage from hundreds of CCTV cameras installed near the crime scene and along suspected escape routes.

The incident triggered sharp political reactions from the Congress, which questioned the effectiveness of the Raipur police commissionerate system. Addressing a press conference at Rajiv Bhavan, Chhattisgarh Congress communication department chief Sushil Anand Shukla alleged that crimes such as robbery, murder, stabbing and rape were increasing in Raipur despite the deployment of senior IPS officers.

He also claimed that police focus remained centred on traffic enforcement instead of crime prevention and alleged that FIRs were not being properly registered to keep crime figures low.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Malkit Singh Gedu alleged that fuel supplies were diverted for VIP arrangements during Shah’s Bastar visit, leading to panic buying and long queues outside petrol pumps in some areas.