'Administration is blind', says MoS Ashwini Kumar Choubey on allegations of his son sparking clashes

Shashwat had led a procession organised by Bharatiya Navvarsh Jagran Samiti on the eve of Hindu New Year, comprising workers of BJP, RSS and Bajrang Dal that triggered a communal clash.

Union Minister of State Ashwini Kumar Choubey, whose son Arijit Shashwat has been accused of triggering communal clashes in Bhagalpur, on Tuesday said the administration is wrongly blaming his son instead of nabbing the actual culprits.

Shashwat was named as an accused in an FIR in connection with the clashes between two communities in Nathnagar on the outskirts of Bhagalpur on Saturday.

"Some negative elements did the wrong things, you haven't been able to arrest them and instead the blame is being put on Shobha Yatra. The administration there has become blind," Choubey, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, told news agency ANI on Tuesday.

Shashwat had led a procession organised by Bharatiya Navvarsh Jagran Samiti on the eve of Hindu New Year, comprising workers of BJP, RSS and Bajrang Dal that triggered a communal clash. The clashes occurred in Medini Chowk under Nathnagar police station, a Muslim-dominated area.

Several shops were vandalised during the clashes. The clashes began when locals objected to the blocking of the procession which was playing Hindu religious songs, said a TOI report.

Three policemen got injured in the inter-community clash. Internet services also have been suspended in the area. Police and paramilitary forces have been deployed in 18 sensitive pockets in and around Bhagalpur town, including at least 10 areas under Nathnagar police station.

OneIndia News