The Moradabad police in Uttar Pradesh are probing allegations that three men were held captive and brutally tortured at the house of BJP MLA Sushant Singh over the suspected theft of a gold bangle. Two of the alleged victims worked at the legislator’s house, while the third was a friend of theirs. Two of the three victims, Ramu Kashyap and his neighbour Atul Kashyap, sustained serious injuries and are undergoing treatment at a hospital, with Ramu’s condition remaining critical. The third victim, Lavish Kashyap, was discharged after receiving first aid.

What the complainants alleged

Ramu’s mother Omwati Kashyap filed a complaint on Friday at the Thakurdwara police station, accusing Sushant Singh and his associates of assaulting her son and the two other youths. She alleged that the three youths were hung upside down and brutally beaten while being questioned over the suspected theft. They rubbed salt into their wounds and also administered electric shocks, she alleged.

Ramu, a married daily-wage labourer with three children, was among the three victims. Ramu’s cousin Ompal Singh said the incident dates back to October 6, when a gold bangle allegedly went missing from the MLA’s residence. The MLA’s associates questioned Atul and Lavish and assaulted them, and during the questioning they allegedly told the men that they had handed the bangle over to Ramu Kashyap. Omwati said she later went to the MLA’s residence with several residents, but the associates refused to let them meet the youths and threatened them instead. The bangle is still missing.

Probe and the MLA’s response

Thakurdwara Station House Officer Manoj Parmar said the police were probing the matter, adding that two of the injured youths were undergoing treatment at a hospital. No FIR had been registered till the time of reporting. An associate who answered the MLA’s phone said the dispute involved the residence’s staff and that some people had sustained serious injuries, but denied the MLA’s involvement, saying Sushant Singh was not at the house when the incident occurred and that his name had been dragged into the case for political reasons.

This is the second term of BJP MLA Sushant Singh, who represents the Barhapur Assembly constituency in Bijnor district. The son of former MP Kunwar Sarvesh Singh, he won the last Assembly election defeating his nearest rival, the Samajwadi Party’s Kapil Kumar, by 14,280 votes.