BJP MP Rakesh Sinha on Monday refuted reports that Karnal SDM Ayush Sinha, facing severe criticism over his ‘break farmers’ heads’ to policemen, was his nephew and warned the latter of legal action if he does not apologise for his remarks.
“Karnal SDM Ayush Sinha is not even distantly related to my family nor has any acquaintance. If you do not tender apology for this propaganda then criminal and defamation case will be filed against you,” read a tweet by the BJP MP in Hindi.
The statement comes amid reports that Ayush Sinha, a 2018-batch IAS officer, was the nephew of BJP MP and RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha and accusations that this was reason why no action was being taken against him.
During the farmers’ protest in Karnal on Saturday, SDM Sinha was caught on camera Saturday instructing policemen to beat up protesters and not to let anyone breach the security cordon without a “broken head”.
“Utha utha ke maarna peeche sabko (hit them hard)… We shall not allow this cordon to be breached. We have enough force available. We haven’t slept for the past two days. But you have come here after taking some sleep… Mere paas ek bhi banda nikal ke nahi aana chahiye. Agar aaye toh sar foota hua hona chahiye uska. Clear hai aapko (No one should break the cordon and reach me. If someone does, make sure he has a broken head. Hope this is clear),” Sinha could be heard instructing a group of policemen in the viral video.
Amid demands of action against him, the IAS officer defended himself saying that the viral video was “doctored” and “only a selected portion about the lathicharge was made viral on social media platforms”.
On Sunday, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala disapproved of his remarks and promised action against him.“The use of such kind of words by an IAS officer for farmers is condemnable. Definitely, action will be taken against him,” Chautala was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.