Police have arrested four Congress workers, including MP Rahul Gandhi’s own staff members, for vandalising a Mahatma Gandhi portrait at his Wayanad office in June of this year. The office of the Wayanad MP was vandalised on June 24 this year.
Police in Kalpetta arrested Rahul Gandhi’s PA Ratheesh Kumar, office staff Rahul, and Congress leaders Noushad and Mujeeb on Friday. According to reports, the Congress workers were arrested after a month-long investigation.
Kerala | 4 Congress workers incl MP Rahul Gandhi’s staff arrested for vandalizing a picture of Mahatma Gandhi in his Wayanand office: Kalpetta police
— ANI (@ANI) August 19, 2022
Congress had earlier alleged that it was SFI workers who vandalized the picture in Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s office in Wayanad https://t.co/gN9R6GvkUs
In the aftermath of the incident, the Congress party blamed the vandalism on CPIM’s student wing SFI. Miscreants had reportedly invaded Rahul Gandhi’s office and clashed with Congress members present there.
It is notable here that some people had earlier shared on social media that the Mahatma Gandhi photo was intact during the attack by SFI, but later Congress workers of the office had put the photo on the ground and had clicked photos blaming SFI for it.
Attack on Rahul Gandhi’s office in Wayanad
Following a recent Supreme Court order requiring every protected forest tract and wildlife sanctuary to have an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) of one kilometre from its boundaries, over 100 SFI workers reportedly marched to Gandhi’s office in Kalpetta, Wayanad district headquarters, demanding that the Congress MP intervene to allay the concerns of people in his constituency.
A number of SFI activists allegedly barged into Gandhi’s office as the march reached, assaulted staff members, and vandalised office equipment. Police were there, however, accounts suggest that they did not halt the march before the protesters vandalised the office.
A few SFI employees were later taken into custody by the police, but Congress supporters headed by party legislator T Siddique staged a demonstration in Kalpetta, where they engaged in violence with officers and blocked the roadway till late at night.
Late at night, the Kalpetta Deputy Superintendent of Police was suspended after the Chief Minister instructed the Additional DGP at the state police headquarters to investigate the matter. Additionally, the CM gave the Home Secretary a week to produce a report on the incident.
