Caught by CCTV footage, AAP’s Alka Lamba pleads ’fit of anger’

mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, Aug 10:  A day after Aam Aadmi Party lawmaker Alka Lamba was attacked during her anti-drug drive in a crowded market place in north Delhi, her critics alleged that CCTV footage proves she asked for trouble. A BJP lawmaker whose shop was targeted in the drive hit out at Ms Lamba and called her a "drug addict."

 

The Delhi Police has filed a case of trespass against Ms Lamba after complaints by shopkeepers in her constituency Chandni Chowk.

The case was filed hours after CCTV footage from a sweet shop showed Ms lamba walking straight to the counter of a shop and toppling a billing machine. The man next to her then pushed everything off the table.

"What I did was in a fit of anger, I should learn restrain from my leader Arvind Kejriwal," Ms Lamba told NDTV, adding, "I am not afraid of jail...if I have done anything wrong, send me to Tihar."

The CCTV footage added a new twist to Ms Lamba’s allegation on Sunday that she had been attacked with stones during her drive against a drug racket. A 19-year-old who allegedly threw stones at her was arrested.

Alka Lamba’s early morning raid was aimed at shops that she alleges are illegal and help drug peddlers operate freely. Arvind Kejriwal had tweeted yesterday, "Proud of you, Alka."

Ms Lamba claimed that the CCTV footage showed what happened after she was attacked, and a reaction to police inaction on an alleged drugs racket.

One of the shops Alka Lamba visited belongs to BJP lawmaker OP Sharma, who hit out at his AAP colleague using egregious terms and also said she will "go back in a stretcher" if she returns to the area.

"Whether she (Alka Lamba) is helping people fight addiction or is addicted herself is a matter of investigation. Whatever you see on the CCTV footage is not the action of a normal person. She took hooligans along," OP Sharma said. Alka Lamba said she had written to the Delhi Commission for Women against Mr Sharma’s comments.

Alka Lamba’s campaign was compared by some to another controversial incident involving another AAP leader, former law minister Somnath Bharti. Last year, Somnath Bharti was accused of targeting African nationals in a midnight raid against an alleged sex and drugs racket in his constituency.

AAP alleges that its lawmakers are being targeted by the Delhi Police, which reports to the Centre. "In six months they have arrested three of our MLAs. I have told them, all of us will surrender and work from Tihar Jail," Mr Kejriwal said on Sunday.