Congress leader paid youths for ink assault on minister
By IANSThursday, October 21, 2010
RAIPUR - Two days after some youths poured black ink on union Minister of State for Planning V. Narayanasamy outside the Congress headquarters here, Chhattisgarh Police Thursday confirmed that the assault was planned by a Raipur-based Congress leader.
“It was Congress leader Pappu Farishta who had hired a group of unemployed youths with an advance payment of Rs.5,000 to throw ink at the minister,” a police officer here told IANS.
Police sources say the seven youths arrested in the case revealed the truth about how they were paid by Farishta to insult the minister in public.
The Congress Tuesday faced a major embarrassment in Chhattisgarh, where it has been out of power since December 2003, when about 20-22 youths accosted the minister at Gandhi Bhavan, the Congress’s state headquarters in Raipur, shouting slogans of “Sonia Gandhi zindabad”, “Rahul Gandhi zindabad” and poured a bottle of black ink on him.
Some Congress members managed to catch four of the attackers, and handed them over to the police. Later, three more youths were arrested.
The police are trying to arrest Farishta for the attack conspiracy, but he is reportedly on the run.
