BHOPAL: The convoy of Uttar Pradesh minister Manohar Lal 'Mannu' was attacked over a road rage altercation in Gwalior. The minister wasn't hurt but his personal security officer (PSO) was injured and his service pistol was snatched.
Gwalior police arrested four suspects within hours and recovered the stolen pistol.
Lal, who is UP minister of state for labour and employment, was travelling 330km from Agra to his hometown Lalitpur when the incident happened midway around 8pm.
His car had a pilot vehicle of UP Police and a follow vehicle of Gwalior police. There was a traffic jam at Jaurasi Ghati in Bilauwa region, 20km from Gwalior, due to an accident. In the traffic chaos, the pilot vehicle moved ahead while the follow vehicle was left behind.
Biker & aides snatched minister's PSO's pistol According to sources, the minister's vehicle entered the wrong side in an attempt to evade the traffic bottleneck when an altercation broke out with local motorists.
"It was an issue of road rage. A motorcycle came in front of the minister's vehicle, and there was an altercation between the biker and the minister's PSO.
"The security officer slapped the youth, who called some more accomplices, and they attacked the security officer and snatched his pistol," Gwalior SP Dharmveer Singh told TOI.
Policemen who were clearing the road immediately intervened and arrested one of the accused on the spot, said the SP.
"The minister's vehicle was escorted out of the traffic bottleneck. All four accused -- Bunty Kamariya, Kaptan Kamariya, Bhula Kamariya and Bhupendra Kamariya -- were arrested within some time.
"The weapon that was snatched was also recovered,"Gwalior SP Singh added.
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