Bhagalpur violence: Union minister Ashwini Choubey's son Arijit Shashwat sent to 14-day judicial custody

Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey's son Arijit Shashwat who was arrested on Saturday late night in connection with a case related to the recent communal clashes in Bhagalpur, has been sent to 14-day judicial custody.

Hours after a Bhagalpur court rejected the anticipatory bail plea, Shashwat surrendered before the police.

The arrest warrant against him was issued on March 24.

Shashwat is the son of Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey.

"I have given myself up to police in deference to the court order. I have been wrongly accused of evading arrest. I was not absconding as I have not committed any crime. If raising slogans in praise of 'Bharat Mata' and 'Sri Ram' is a crime then I may be called a criminal," Shashwat told reporters.

Shashwat has been named, besides eight others, in one of the two FIRs lodged at Nathnagar police station of Bhagalpur following communal riots that broke out on March 17 after some people objected to playing of loud music during a procession led by him. It had been taken out allegedly without permission to celebrate the New Year as per the Hindu calendar.

An FIR was filed after communal violence broke out on March 17 during a procession led by Shashwat in Nathnagar that the Bharatiya Navvarsh Jagran Samiti organised to mark the Hindu New Year.

However, Ashwini Choubey and other local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders later claimed that the district administration had allowed the rally, and denied shouting provocative slogans. 

(With agency inputs)