Newly elected Gurugram sarpanch booked for assaulting law intern for ‘refusing bribe hours before vote’

Gurugram Ten men, including a newly elected sarpanch, were booked for allegedly assaulting a law intern after he refused to accept a branded suit and ₹5,000 to vote in their favour, police said Tuesday.

The voting for the panchayat election in Gurugram took place on November 12 and results were declared for sarpanches on the same day. Police said the supporters of Parveen Khatana reached the house of the complainant, Rahul Kohli (26), in Sahjawas, Bhondsi with the suit and money on the night of November 11, hours before the election.

Kohli’s refusal had offended the suspects as it gave them the impression that Kohli and his family would not vote for Khatana, police said.

Khatana went on to emerge as the winning candidate after which his supporters targeted Kohli at 9.40am on Monday when he was going towards the Gurugram civil court, police said.

The suspects, armed with wooden bats and rods, intercepted him 500 metres away from his residence, police said, adding that they kept hitting him until he fainted. Then they woke him up and resumed the assault until he could no longer move, after which they left the spot, police said.

Kohli managed to call his family members, who immediately reached the spot and took him to Sohna government hospital, where doctors referred him to the government hospital in Sector 10A, where he is under treatment.

Kohli said the suspects had approached other families, too, in their neighbourhood on November 11 with the same items. “We refused to accept the money and suit. I told them that my family doesn’t need these items. This made them think that my family of six members would not vote for them,” said Kohli.

On Monday, he returned from the gym at 9am with two friends on motorcycles and spotted two of the suspects on the road near his home. “I had failed to understand their motive. Later I left for court alone when the suspects, including Khatana, intercepted and assaulted me,” said Kohli.

Kohli said he has sustained five stitches on his head and legs, his right hand is swollen and he is unable to move his limbs. “I have bruises on my entire body. Doctors conducted a CT-scan of my head and will carry out an X-ray of my hand,” he said.

Khatana, meanwhile, denied all allegations. “I won the election. Now there is no point in assaulting him. Kohli is a well-educated and nice man. I know him personally. Probably he is influenced by my rivals and trying to frame me,” he said.

Sub-inspector Mukesh Kumar, additional station house officer of Bhondsi police station, said, “Some villagers have been called in for questioning. Necessary action will be taken against them once the facts are corroborated,” he said.

An FIR against the suspects was registered under sections 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act at Bhondsi police station on Monday night.