Bhopal: Two police officers attached to Baihar police station in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh were suspended for allegedly beating up an RSS worker, arrested for posting objectionable comments on the AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi.

District Superintendent of Police Asit Yadav suspended inspector Zia Ul Haq and sub-inspector Anil Ajmaria on Monday for assaulting the RSS pracharak Suresh Yadav, Inspector General of Police D C Sagar said on Monday. Yadav (28) was being treated at a hospital in Jabalpur.

Police, after receiving a complaint that Yadav had posted some comments about Owaisi on WhatsApp, brought him to Baihar police station on the evening of September 25. Yadav escaped and hid in the nearby house of Swami Prasad Asati. Police caught him and brought back to the station; after grilling him, they booked him under section 295 (a) (outraging religious feelings) of the IPC. In police custody, he was allegedly beaten up brutally.

In the meantime, a large crowd gathered outside the police station seeking his release and damaged a police vehicle. A doctor was summoned as Yadav complained of pain. The doctor asked the police to shift him to hospital which was done immediately, the IG said.

Subsequently, on the complaint of Yadav and Asati, Additional SP Rajesh Sharma, Zia Ul Haq, Ajmaria, Assistant Sub-Inspector Suresh Vijaywar and some others were booked under section 307 (attempt to murder) of IPC. Haq and Ajmaria were also suspended.

The IG said police were conducting impartial probe and had formed teams to arrest the accused cops. Home Minister Bhupendra Singh and Agriculture Minister Gaurishanker Bisen on Monday met Yadav at hospital.

PTI