Rahul Gandhi faces police probe over parliament scuffle

FE Team | Published: December 20, 2024 22:47:03

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (right) talking at an event.

NEW DELHI, Dec 20 (Reuters): India's Rahul Gandhi is under police investigation over a scuffle between opposition members of parliament and those from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which injured two lawmakers, police said on Friday.
Police were responding to a BJP complaint accusing Gandhi, the opposition leader, of pushing and shoving BJP lawmakers and causing injuries to two of them on Thursday as they protested outside parliament house against opposition parties.
Gandhi, the Congress party leader and scion of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty that has produced three prime ministers, already has multiple cases filed against him.
He was briefly disqualified from parliament last year after a court sentenced him to two years' imprisonment in a defamation case. The Supreme Court suspended the conviction and he was reinstated as a lawmaker.
On Thursday, television channels showed one of the injured lawmakers being taken from the spot in a wheelchair, with a woman pressing a cloth above his left eyebrow, which she lifted briefly to reveal a bleeding wound.
Gandhi denied the allegations, saying BJP members had pushed and threatened him and tried to prevent him from entering parliament during the scuffle. Congress party also filed a police complaint on Thursday, alleging BJP lawmakers had misbehaved against Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge.
"The first information report (FIR) against Rahul Gandhi is being investigated," said a senior Delhi Police officer.