Goa: Attending "dance party" lands UP Samajwadi Party MLA in jail

Panaji, Aug 28: UP Samajwadi Party legislator Mahendra Kumar Singh landed behind bars for having revelry at a birthday bash on a Goa beach hotel and creating a dance bar ambience with women imported from Delhi. Singh, along with five others, was arrested on Monday night after Goa police busted the party being attended by this 55-year-old MLA.

Police said that the officers who raided the terrace party at Viva hotel in Campal, found six women performers dancing to loud music. As the police team entered, the women locked themselves in a room, raising suspicion, said Goa police inspector Rajendra Prabhudesai. Singh, a four-time MLA ,is the son-in-law of veteran SP leader Bhagwati Singh.

All the arrested were reportedly booked under Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act and remanded in police custody for six days.

Singh said he was being treated harshly with no reason at all. "Dance programmes take place everywhere in Goa and police do not arrest anyone. I arrived in Goa on August 24 and yesterday I had gone to Panaji to visit a casino. There I received a call from my friend, inviting me for a birthday party which I went to attend," he told TOI at the police station. He said he had reached barely half an hour before the cops showed up.

His party, however, didn't rush to defend him. SP spokesperson and senior minister Rajendra Chaudhary said, "Whatever we have come to know about the MLA is through the media. The party is in the process of collecting relevant details."

Police said what aroused suspicion was that the girls didn't know each other and it appeared that they had been arranged by different persons for the evening. "If the girls had been part of a troupe or orchestra, they would have known each other well and would not run for cover. The girls behaved suspiciously," a police source said.

Since there were no dance bars at any Goa hotel, those at Viva had arranged the programme on the terrace. "The loud music disturbed residents in the area, prompting Cumbharjua Congress MLA Pandurang Madkaikar to call the police," a source said.

OneIndia News