Patna: An angry mob beat up a lawmaker from Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal and threw boiling oil on his face after he got into a heated altercation with them demanding more sweets than what he paid for.
Surendra Prasad Yadav was admitted to a local government hospital with severe burn injuries on his face and other parts of his body.
As per reports, the lawmaker who was returning home after attending a function in his assembly constituency, stopped his car near a sweet shop in Gaya town on Sunday evening and asked his men to buy some sweets. Reports said his security guard asked the shopkeeper to give more sweets gratis, but was refused, leading to an exchange of words between them, which drew a large crowd.
In the meantime, the lawmaker stepped out of his car and reportedly tried to resort to muscle power, which only infuriated the shopkeeper. Soon, the shopkeeper helped by other staff at the sweet shop, picked up the cauldron filled with boiling oil and threw it on Yadav. Witnesses said the mob also beat him up and his guard. Yadav saved his life by fleeing the scene.
He was admitted to the local Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College and Hospital for treatment. Doctors said it would take about a month to fully recover from burn injuries as the hot oil has scalded his skin near his left ear, besides partly damaging his eardrum.
Police have arrested the shopkeeper and sent him to jail. The shopkeeper, too, has filed a complaint against Yadav.
“We have the arrested the accused shop-owner and sent him to jail based on the complaint petition of the lawmaker. Further investigations are on,” the local Gaya city superintendent of police Rakesh Kumar told media on Monday.
However, the shopkeeper’s family accused the police of discrimination and feared for their life.
Local residents are now living under terror, fearing bloody reprisal from the lawmaker.
Earlier in July this year, angry villagers had held hostage a ruling party minister Baidyanath Sahni and locked him up in a college when he forcibly tried to lay foundation stone of his petrol pump on a land reportedly belonging to an education institute.
