Janjivan Bureau / Lucknow : Dodging the Delhi Police, Special Task Force and UP Police, son of former BSP MP, businessman Ashish Pandey surrendered at the Patiala House Court on Thursday morning.
Ending days of search for Ashish across Delhi, Lucknow, Ambedkar Nagar and even in Nepal, he sprang a surprise by surrendering in the court, which sent him to one-day police custody. The application for his police custody was filed before the Patiala House Court in the National Capital.
Metropolitan Magistrate Neetu Sharma considered submission of the Delhi Police which sought a four-day custodial interrogation of Ashish on various grounds. The court, however, granted one-day quizzing of the accused.
A video had gone viral on the social media showing an aggressive Ashish wearing salmon-coloured trouser brandishing a gun and threatening a couple in the porch of a luxury hotel in New Delhi.
He is even heard saying that he is from Lucknow and will not spare them.
The footage shows him being pacified by people and going back to his car.
But he does not drive away but returns to carry on his threatening and abusive behaviour with the gun in his hand.
However, before the surrender he released a video giving his side of the story.
In today’s video, he is seen wearing a white shirt and his body language is completely submissive, unlike that of the earlier video.
In the video, Ashish does not deny the incident in the hotel porch but claims that it is only one side of the story.
Referring to the media trail against him for the last four days he says that he is being projected as a terrorist or a wanted criminal and the police have even issued a red corner circular against him.
He urges that the hotel CCTV footage should be examined to find out who had entered the ladies toilet and who had threatened him. He also asked the police to record the statement of the hospital staff and security to know the whole incident.
He said that he did not touch or even look at the concerned woman who had pushed her and used obscene gestures.
But in the video he did not further elaborate on the incident.
“But now I am surrendering and will make a statement before the police. I have full faith in the country’s legal system”, he said.
“I have licensed weapons for the last 20 years and have no single instance of misuse of my licensed weapons. Even the footage that has gone viral does not show me pointing the gun at anyone. The gun is behind my back”, said Ashish defending his intimidating behaviour.
Son of former BSP MP from Ambedkarnagar Rakesh Pandey and brother of sitting BSP MLA from Jalalpur in Ambedkar Ritesh Pandey, Ashish in the video asks if it was a crime to be the son and brother of politicians.
Claiming to be a businessman who paid heavy taxes Ashish said that he had no pending case of even slapping anyone against him. Leave alone a criminal case, Ashish said that he did not even have a civil case against him.
The surrender comes a day after his MLA brother Ritesh Pandey had issued a statement assuring to cooperate with the police investigation and informing that the family was attempting to make him appear before the investigating team.
The Delhi police assisted by the STF and UP police had been conducting an intensive combing operation across Lucknow, Ambedkar Nagar and even Nepal working on the theory that he may have escaped out of the country to Nepal.
Sources claim that he was reportedly hiding in Delhi’s Sainik Farm area keeping tabs of the police movement, seeking legal advice and planning his moves.
