Six policemen booked, five suspended for beating up BJP MP

Bhopal, Oct 4 (IANS) Six policemen were charged with attempt to murder while five were suspended after Virender Kumar Khatik, MP from the Madhya Pradesh's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was beaten up during an anti-encroachment drive in the state's Sagar district, a police official said Saturday.

Khatik, a three-time MP, received eight stitches on the head after being repeatedly hit Friday in Sagar district's Bina town by policemen who were angered by stone pelting by a group of shopkeepers affected by the demolition drive.

'Attempt to murder and other charges had been framed against Bina's GRP (Government Railway Police) station house officer S.S. Badgurjar, town inspector Vivek Sharma and four RPF policemen,' said RPF (Railway Protection Force) commandant Sarika Mohan.

Those suspended, she said, include RPF superintendent R.S. Uike, assistant sub-inspector S.K. Sharma and constables Sudhir, Gokul and Kartar Singh.

Khatik was seriously injured Friday when a group of RPF personnel surrounded him and caned him in full public view when he tried to stop an ongoing drive to demolish illegal shops that were built on railway land in Chhota Bajarial locality in Bina.

The 54-year-old MP from Sagar was bleeding profusely when he was rushed in an unconscious state to Bhopal's Hamidia Hospital where he was under observation in the Intensive Care Unit. His condition is stable, said a doctor treating him.

A shutdown was observed Saturday in Bina town on a call given by the BJP to protest the assault on the party MP.

BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said: 'We condemn this heinous act.'