UP: Congress Leader arrested for putting tricolour on Atiq Grave

A local Congress leader, who stoked a controversy by placing the Indian Tricolour on the grave of slain gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad at the Kasari Masari graveyard in Old City area, has been arrested.

The Congress leader Rajkumar Singh 'Rajju', was also expelled from the party for 'anti-party 'activities'.

An aspiring corporator from ward no. 43 here in the UP civic polls, Rajju was held by the Dhoomanganj police after a video of him purportedly showing him put the national flag on the grave went viral on social media, said police.

Atiq and his younger brother Ashraf were buried in the graveyard late on April 16 evening after they were shot dead by three armed assailants while in police custody on April 15 night.

In the viral video, Rajkumar Singh Rajju is purportedly seen calling Atiq Ahmed a martyr, demanding Bharat Ratna for him and later spreading the Tricolour on his grave. The authenticity of the video clip is yet to be confirmed.

As soon as the information about the viral clip was received, the Dhoomanganj police traced and detained the accused leader on Wednesday night.

"A complaint is being registered against him," said police.

Meanwhile, city Congress committee president Pradeep Mishra Anshuman expelled the leader from the party for six years, saying that Rajkumar Singh's statement on Atiq was his personal view and the party had nothing to do with it.

The viral video also purportedly showed the accused leader saying: "The state government got Atiq Ahmad murdered. I demand that he be given Bharat Ratna. He was a public representative. He should be given the status of a martyr. If late Mulayam Singh Yadav can get Padma Vibhushan, then why should Atiq not be given Bharat Ratna...why was he not given state honours during the funeral?"

Rajkumar Singh is believed to have given this statement to the media after the press conference of Congress mayoral candidate Prabha Shankar Mishra.

While he was giving the statement, the city Congress president could be seen stopping the leader from speaking further. [IANS/JS]