The Madhya Pradesh police are tight-lipped over the controversy involving a family member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi's brother Prahlad Modi has been accused of intervening in a police investigation in order to help a friend.
Modi, the younger brother of the prime minister, recently was in Indore's Manpur village to attend a function. During which he learnt about the police case against his friend Anil Rathore, who runs a road-side food joint in Agra-Bombay highway.
Rathore was booked following an altercation with one Radheshyam Bhil in Manpur.
According to media reports, Rathore on the night of August 18 approached Bhil to patch up his car's punctured tyre. However, Bhil refused to provide his services as it was too late in the night, which led to heated arguments between the two and eventually ended in a scuffle.
Following the verbal altercation, Rathore had called his food joint staff members for help, who thrashed Bhil and other villagers in the ensuing fisticuffs.
The matter was reported to the police and a case was registered against Rathore and six others under the provisions of IPC and SC/ST act. Rathore also abortively sought to file a counter-complaint accusing Bhil of robbery. However, police refused to register his complaint.
While police managed to nab five of the accused in the case, Rathore was on the run. On Tuesday, based on a tip-off, police raided Rathore's nephew Ankit's house, where the accused was allegedly hiding. The house was also the venue for a wedding ceremony.
Modi was reportedly present at the function.
After learning about the whole episode, Prahlad went to police control room and met DIG of Indore Santosh Kumar Singh to discuss about the case. He reportedly questioned the police action against his friend.
When THE WEEK contacted DIG Singh, he refused to comment on the incident.
However, a senior police officer confirmed that Modi along with Rathore had visited the Indore police station in connection with the case.
He said, “(Prahlad) Modi is a regular in this region and he often comes here to attend family and social functions. He came to police control room like any other person with grievance.”
