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A Kandivli woman claims to have caught the Congress leader distributing money last night; accuses him of threatening her

Wannabe MP and Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam was allegedly caught distributing money to voters last night, a clear violation of the Election Code of Conduct.

Complainant: Bhavna Visarya claims she was on a walk when she saw Sanjay Nirupam bribing voters

Bhavna Visarya, a resident of MHADA colony in Kandivli's Lokhandwala Complex, said in her police complaint that she was on a late evening walk at 11 pm when she found Nirupam and his party workers bribing voters from his car. She claims that when she started questioning Nirupam about his alleged wrongdoings, the party workers threatened her. Hearing the commotion, a mob of nearby residents and MNS, Shiv Sena and BJP activists gathered at the spot.

That's when a personal guard of Nirupam fired his gun twice in the air. In the ensuing violence, the mob damaged a BEST bus that was parked at Hanuman Nagar and also broke the window of Nirupam's Qualis.

'Citizen of India'

Visariya said, "Nirupam and his men have threatened me. I am not from any party, but just a citizen of India."

But Nirupam claimed he was innocent saying, "The allegations are false. I was neither distributing any money nor have I threatened any woman called Visariya."

At fault? Sanjay Nirupam and fellow Congress worker Ashok Sutrale after being booked by the Samata Nagar police in Kandivli last night. pics/SAMEER MARKANDE

Zonal DCP Ajit Patil said they are in the process of investigating the matter. He also clarified that the guard who fired in the air was a police constable given to protect Nirupam. The police have booked Nirupam, Ashok Sutrale, Congress's district president for North Mumbai, and Subhash Yadav, party activist, under charges of bribery and criminal intimidation, among others.

Meanwhile, Debashish Chakraborty, the state's chief electoral officer, said that in such matters it's the police who can take action against Nirupam after investigating the matter.

NCP man too
An NCP activist, Habib Abbas, was detained last night with Rs 2.47 lakh in cash by the Shivaji Nagar police. The money was allegedly being used to bribe voters. The car (MH-04 DE 6284) Abbas was travelling in has also been detained.