By IANS,
Lucknow : A court in Varanasi Wednesday issued orders to attach the property of Samajwadi Party (SP) legislator Abdul Samad Ansari, who is absconding after being accused of having assaulted an additional district magistrate (ADM), police said.
The Varanasi police had Tuesday procured arrest warrants for Ansari, legislator from Varanasi (North), and party corporator Manoj Rai who, along with over a dozen other people, allegedly assaulted ADM (Protocol) R.K. Singh in his office Monday.
“The court has ordered that the properties of Ansari and Rai be attached. Notices in this regard have been pasted on their houses,” Superintendent of Police (City) Vijay Bhushan told IANS.
On Tuesday, Ansari had sought 24 hours from the court of the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) of Varanasi to surrender and this expired at 2 p.m. Wednesday. He has now filed an application for extension of the time granted to him.
“He (Ansari) has filed an application to the CJM seeking another 24 hours to surrender before the court,” said a court official.
According to a first information report (FIR) filed by Singh, Ansari and Rai came to his office along with their supporters to procure an official paper.
“As the process takes time, they insisted that their work should be done on priority basis. Soon they started beating me,” Singh told reporters.
In the FIR, Singh had alleged that Ansari was forcing him to ignore legal formalities and issue a solvency certificate in favour of an acquaintance called Sunita Mishra.
“Efforts are on to nab them. We had information that they were hiding in Lucknow. Police teams raided the legislator’s residence in Varanasi and his official flat in Lucknow’s Darulshafa area Tuesday,” Superintendent of Police (City) Vijay Bhushan told IANS.
Meanwhile, officials of the collectorates in Varanasi and neighboring districts of Bhadohi and Chandauli have gone on an indefinite strike demanding the arrest of all the accused.
“We will not work unless the legislator and his goons are arrested and the administration assures us of a fearless work environment,” K.P. Dubey, an official of the Bhadohi collectorate, told reporters.