New Delhi: A 19-year-old has been arrested for throwing a stone at Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Alka Lamba during her anti-drug drive here on Sunday, police said.
Teenager Jatin, who works at a sweet shop, was arrested following Lamba's complaint.
Police said that Lamba, an MLA from Chandni Chowk constituency, sustained simple blunt injury on her head and was discharged from hospital after being administered first aid.
In her complaint to police, Lamba said that Jatin had lobbed a stone when she opposed the encroachment by some shopkeepers in the Kashmere Gate area.
"At the time of the attack, Lamba was outside Shiv Mishthan Bhandar, where Jatin works," IANS quoted Deputy Commissioner of Police Madhur Verma as saying.
"The MLA's medical reports suggested that she had received simple blunt injury on her head. We have arrested the accused following her complaint," Verma said.
Lamba started an anti-drug drive at 5 am today from Yamuna Bazar to mark the Quit India Movement Day.
AAP spokesperson Ashutosh, earlier in the day, tweeted some pictures of Lamba being given the first-aide.
AAP's fight Ag Drug will be intensified. AAP MLA Alka Lamba was attacked by drug cartel. Our fight will continue. pic.twitter.com/bhafOXxzG8
— ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) August 9, 2015
He further tweeted that the assailant was caught from Vishwas Nagar BJP MLA Om Prakash Sharma's shop.
Locals told us-Man,attacked Alka lamba was working in Sweet shop. shop is owned by present BJP MLA Om Prakash Sharma. pic.twitter.com/8bTzoJbpFu
— ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) August 9, 2015
"The man who attacked Alka was caught from a local sweet shop, which is, as per the locals, owned by Om Prakash Sharma, who is MLA from Vishwas Nagar. We want an investigation that whether it is a coincident or a conspiracy. Only arresting the person will not be sufficient," Ashutosh added.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to twitter to praise Lamba and wrote: “Proud of you Alka.”
.@LambaAlka Proud of you Alka.
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) August 9, 2015
Hours after the attack, the AAP leaders met Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at his official residence here.
Besides Lamba, senior AAP leaders Ashutosh, Durgesh Pathak, Kapil Mishra, Dilip Pandey and Kumar Vishwas were among those who met Kejriwal.
Earlier, confirming the news, the AAP MLA herself took to twitter to inform about the incident adding that this attack was a result of her fight against drugs.
नशे के खिलाफ लड़ाई का अंजाम ... मुझ पर हमला कर मेरा सिर फाड़ दिया गया, खून बहने के वावजूद भी मैं मैदान नहीं छोडूंगी.. अगस्त क्रांति दिवस..
— Alka Lamba (@LambaAlka) August 9, 2015
Lamba further said that the whole thing smacked of a conspiracy, adding that she was hopeful of a fair probe by the police.
"We were holding discussions with the drug addicts as a part of an anti-drug drive when I was attacked with a stone," Lamba said.
"I saw a man who had covered himself with blanket, in a room above a local sweet shop. His intention was to disperse the crowd. There is definitely a conspiracy behind it but I am hopeful that the police will conduct a fair probe to find out who is behind this attack," she added.
Lamba had defeated her nearest rival BJP's Suman Kumar Gupta by more than 18,200 votes in the Assembly elections held in February this year.
