An MP-MLA Court on Saturday pronounced two-year imprisonment for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) Ram Shankar Katheria from Etawah constituency in Uttar Pradesh in connection with a vandalism case. The court convicted him in a 12-year-old Torrent assault case and also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 for leading a mob to assault an officer at the Torrent Power company in a mall in 2012, reported news agency ANI. Katheria was found guilty under sections 147 (rioting) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC.
With the two-year prison sentencing, the BJP MP faces disqualification from the Lok Sabha under Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
Speaking to ANI, the Etawah MP said he has the right to appeal and he will exercise that right. He also added that he respected the court’s decision against him.
The BJP leader has been facing the case since 2011 when Ram Shankar Katheria was a Member of Parliament (MP) from Agra in the state. During that time, he and his supporters had allegedly attacked the toll staff over the latter’s objection.
The incident took place on November 16, of that year at around 10:10 PM. Torrent Power Limited manager Bhavesh Rasik Lal Shah was hearing and disposing of cases pertaining to electricity theft in his Saket Mall office in Agra, reported NewsRoomPost.
Suddenly, a group of around 15 people came and mercilessly attacked the manager. The mob was led by local MP Ram Shankar Katheria who started fighting with him and Lal Shah sustained some serious injuries. Later, the police registered a complaint against the parliamentarian, reported NewsRoomPost.
The Lok Sabha Member had said he was only trying to help a woman who had got a call from the company to pay a high amount of money for electricity consumption.