Clash Over ‘Objectionable’ Photo of Sonia Gandhi Leaves 1 Dead

The clash was over a photo of Sonia Gandhi circulated in a WhatsApp group, which depicted her ‘washing utensils’.

Sonia Gandhi with her son, Rahul Gandhi (Photo: Reuters)

A 33-year-old man was killed and six others were injured in a clash between two camps over an objectionable photo of Congress President Sonia Gandhi circulated in a private WhatsApp messenger group. The incident occurred in the early hours of the morning on Friday in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.

The group had been created by Congress corporator Jatin Raj for people to stay connected in his locality.

Prashant Nayak, a member of the WhatsApp group, allegedly posted a photo which showed Gandhi “washing utensils” with a satirical caption saying “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reduced Congress President to such a position.”

A heated argument took place over the picture. In the meantime, acting on a tip-off, the police reached the spot and asked the participants to come to the police station to sort out their differences.

When the two groups reached the police station, an alleged altercation took place between them, and one Umesh Verma was stabbed. He was rushed to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

According to Congress corporator Raj’s group, knives were freely used by the rival group inside the Vijay Nagar Police station. This was denied by the police who said they had to call their colleagues from other police stations to discipline the two groups after they turned violent.

Animesh, a member of the Congress corporator’s group, demanded that police should make public the footage from the CCTV camera at the station to bring out the truth.

Area City Superintendent of Police Inderjeet Balsavar, however, said that to bring the situation under control, police resorted to a cane charge but denied that violence took place inside the station.

The violence took place when the groups were en route to the police station, Balsavar said.

(With inputs from PTI)