The Madhya Pradesh Police on Tuesday arrested Pravesh Shukla after a video showing him urinating on a tribal man in Sidhi district went viral on social media. Shukla is a BJP worker and an associate of BJP’s Sidhi MLA Kedarnath Shukla.
He is booked under National Security Act (NSA) among other charges.
According to police, several teams had been dispatched, which managed to track Shukla, who had allegedly been changing his locations. The late-night arrest was triggered after Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took cognisance of the video and directed authorities to take strict action against the accused. Chouhan also directed them to invoke the National Security Act.
Shukla also faces charges under Section 294 (obscene act) and 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Dalit activists alleged Shukla of persuading the victim to sign a stamped document stating that the video was fake.
According to reports, the video was from around three months ago.
The Congress has alleged Shukla is an associate of BJP’s Sidhi MLA Kedarnath Shukla — a charge the party and the MLA have denied.
