In a major security breach, a man threw ink on Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar when he was preparing to embark on a road show in the town on Thursday evening.
The ink splashed his face and soiled his clothes.
The man, who was identified as Praveen of Jakhod Khera village in Adampur Assembly segment, raised pro-Jat reservation and ‘Chaudhary Devi Lal amar rahe’ slogans as he was overpowered by the security staff.
The incident occurred moments after the chief minister stepped out of his car on reaching Devi Bhawan Temple to offer prayers before starting his road show.
Initially, Khattar continued with the formalities of the function but soon realised his soiled cloths due to the ink. He had to stop the prayers midway and changed his clothes in an adjoining room to resume the function.
The accused was initially alleged to be an INLD activist but INLD spokesperson Satish Beniwal said he was not a member of the party and he had been an aide of the Congress’ Adampur MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi.
The INLD also shared a picture of him with Bishnoi on the social media.
Addressing the people at the function, the chief minister referring to the incident said such frustrated people would continue with such acts but they would continue their development agenda and go to the people on a positive note.
The incident has left the security staff and the district police red faced as the police had been making tight security arrangements for two days in the town by diverting routes which are causing inconvenience to the local residents.
SSP Maneesh Chaudhary, in charge of the chief minister’s security, immediately took charge and reviewed the arrangements in the temple and the 3.7 km-long route designated for the road show.
The sources said the chief minister was irked over the incident and summoned SP Manisha Chaudhary and DC Ashok Kumar Meena and reprimanded them for the security breach.
The sources said that the police’s security agencies have given inputs about breach of security during the road show. The police deployed cops with metal detector to scan those entering the temple and also frisked every visitor.
However, it failed to detect the man who entered with an ink pot in his possession.
On way to the road show, youth Congress activist Manoj Tank showed black flag near Rajguru market to the chief minister. He too was arrested by the police.
The Inspector General of Police, Hisar, said that prima facie, it appears to be oil that had been thrown on the Chief Minister. “The man who threw oil is in police custody”, he informed adding that he would update about any criminal case in the incident soon.
The sarpanch of Jakhod Khera village Jitender Kumar informed that the youth who threw oil on the CM, Praveen has been mentally disturbed and was under treatment at a hospital in Sirsa. “Praveen was married about two and a half months ago. He has also got treatment in Jaipur and currently getting treatment in a hospital in Sirsa”, he said.
