Police issues show-cause notice to hotel Hyatt Regency after video of politician's son waving gun at guests goes viral

Delhi Police has issued a show cause notice to hotel Hyatt Regency where a former MP's son was seen brandishing a gun and threatening guests. 

In a notice dated October 16, 2018, the Delhi Police asked the hotel why their lodging license should not be cancelled in light of the incident where Ashish Pandey, son of former BSP MP Rakesh Pandey, was seen brandishing a gun on October 14.

The hotel has been given 15 days to respond to the notice.

On Tuesday, the management of the hotel said that the incident took place on the porch and not inside the premises and that they were cooperating with the police. 

The Delhi Police said the complaint about the incident was received Monday from the assistant security manager of the Hyatt Regency hotel in RK Puram.

"No PCR call was made by any of the parties or even by the hotel authorities. It is negligence on the part of the hotel as something major could have happened.

"We had written to the licensing branch about the hotel's negligence and they have issued a show-cause notice to the hotel," another officer privy to the probe said.

He said after the video went viral, police contacted the hotel authorities following which they lodged the complaint.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday, police said. In the viral video, Ashish can be seen waiving his gun at a woman and threatening two persons at Delhi’s Hyatt Hotel. 

The Delhi Police said an FIR has been registered under the Arms Act and sections of the IPC, including those related to causing hurt (323), criminal intimidation (506) and using force with the intent to outrage the modesty of a woman (354).

Ashish Pandey, who hails from Lucknow, is a realtor and also owns petrol pumps. His phone is switched off since morning and human intelligence is being used to trace him, police said. 

After the video went viral, Gaurav, son of former Congress MLA Kanwar Karan Singh, sent a written statement Tuesday afternoon to the police. In the evening, he went to the police in person and recorded his statement.

Gaurav, a businessman in his late 20s, had gone to the woman's washroom in the hotel to help a friend, who was unwell and Pandey's friends, who came to the washroom, created a ruckus over it and subsequently, it snowballed into an argument.

Pandey then walked up to his BMW car and got the weapon from it.

Police said the security staff of the hotel told them that the accused and victims were partying at a nightclub in the hotel and had an argument over using the washroom.

A woman accompanying the accused abused the victims and called them "transgenders", a senior official privy to the probe said.

It is suspected that both the parties involved were drunk at the time of the incident, he said.

In an official statement released on Tuesday, the hotel said, "At Hyatt Regency Delhi and Hyatt Hotels and Resorts across the world, the safety and security of our guests is our primary concern. To that end, we employ a wide range of physical security measures and security protocols customised to the needs and the environment in which each hotel is operating. We take the incident that occurred at Hyatt Regency Delhi seriously and have been working with the local police authorities on the same. We assure our support and will continue to fully cooperate with the authorities in reference to any further investigation on this matter." 

They, however, refused to comment on why the staff deployed outside did not intervene or call the police while Ashish Pandey was allegedly threatening the couple.

Sources associated with the hotel said that the incident took place on the porch and not inside the premises. They said that Pandey wasn't carrying the gun inside and brought it from his car when it was brought to the porch by valet.

(With PTI inputs)