Attempt made to run us over by CISF vehicle: HEC execs

Ranchi: Agitating executives of the Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) Ltd here on Tuesday alleged that a car belonging to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) tried to run over them at their protest site. An HEC official has, however, denied that such an incident happened.The protesters made a formal complaint to the chief managing director of HEC and copies of the complaint letter were sent to the secretary of the Union heavy industries ministry and the director general of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).The letter claimed that a CISF car, driven by a deputy commandant of the force with M K Saxena, the director (personnel) HEC, in the rear passenger seat, tried to run over them on Monday at about 6.45 pm near the HEC main gate at Dhurwa here.“The speeding car would have run over several HEC officers had we not jumped out. However, several executives were injured in the process. It would have been like the Lakhimpur-Kheri incident in Uttar Pradesh if we had not escaped,” the complaint letter said.It added, “There is a concerted effort to scuttle our agitation, which has entered its 55th day on Tuesday. We request your good offices to take action against all those involved in the incident.”Talking to TOI, one of the protesters said, “We were waiting for the HEC director (personnel), M K Saxena, to bid him a formal adieu. He retired at the close of business hours on Monday. Since we were not allowed by the CISF security personnel to meet him in person, we had sent word that we would hold a brief ceremony at the HEC gates to bid him farewell. At around 6.45 pm, we saw a CISF car with the director in its rear seat, driving straight at us. As we dashed to save ourselves, several of us were injured in the process.”However, no FIR was filed in the incident. “We cannot file FIRs against our own bosses,” the protester said.Meanwhile, Saxena told TOI that there was no attempt to run over the agitating executives. “As a director, my security is in the hands of the CISF. But nothing of this sort has happened. There has been no attempt to run over my own executives. These are just rumours,” he claimed.