Non-bailable warrant against former MP's son Ashish Pandey

New Delhi: The Patiala House Court has issued a non-bailable warrant against Ashish Pandey, son of former BSP MP, who was seen brandishing a gun outside Delhi’s Hyatt Regency hotel in a viral video. The incident had taken place late on Sunday. Delhi Police on Tuesday issued a show cause notice to Hyatt Regency for alleged negligence in the incident where former BSP leader Rakesh Pandey’s son, Aashish Pandey was seen brandishing a gun at guests and threatening them in the foyer of the five-star hotel.

Three teams of Delhi Police were reportedly in Lucknow to trace the accused and also issued a Look-Out Circular (LOC) for Pandey. The police said an FIR had been registered under the Arms Act and sections of the IPC, including those related to causing hurt (323), criminal intimidation (506) and using force with the intent to outrage the modesty of a woman (354). In the video, Pandey, whose brother Ritesh is an MLA in Uttar Pradesh, was seen brandishing a gun in the foyer of the hotel, a police officer said.

After the video went viral, Gaurav, son of former Congress MLA Kanwar Karan Singh, sent a written statement to the police. In the evening, he



went to the police in person and recorded his statement. Gaurav, a businessman in his late 20s, had gone to the woman’s washroom in the hotel to help a friend, who was unwell and Pandey’s friends, who came to the washroom, created a ruckus over it and subsequently, it snowballed into an argument. Pandey then walked up to his BMW car and got the weapon from it.

Meanwhile, some reports have suggested that Pandey may have escaped to Nepal. A report in The Times of India quoted Pandey’s MLA brother as defending him while their father Rakesh was not reachable.  Ritesh said, “Ashish is very disciplined and mannered fellow, he has been abroad and was very good in studies, he can’t do something like this.”

“Leave alone any criminal behaviour, Ashish has never ever even been booked on charges of 151 CrPC,” claimed Ritesh. Deepa Bodh, Ashish’s friend from Dehradun, told TOI that she was aghast when she saw the video in television news. She said, “Ashish was a decent person who always helped people in distress. Delhi police must investigate what had happened in the hotel. There is something fishy and a clear picture needs to emerge.”