Balrampur/Ambikapur:An MLA of the ruling Congress has landed in a controversy after he was caught on camera purportedly thrashing two employees of a cooperative bank in Chhattisgarh's Balrampur-Ramanujganj district. As a video of the incident surfaced on social media on Tuesday, employees of cooperative banks under the Surguja division announced to go on mass leave for two days from Wednesday (April 5) to protest against the assault and demand action against the legislator, Brihaspat Singh.
The Congress MLA from the Ramanujganj Assembly seat admitted assaulting the two staffers of the district cooperative bank and claimed constant complaints of irregularities against employees of the lender compelled him to take such a step. The incident took place on Monday in front of the Ramanujganj branch of the Zilla Sahkari Kendriya Bank and a video of it went viral on social media on Tuesday.
Balrampur-Ramanujganj falls under the Surguja division which comprises five districts. Cooperative banks play a significant role in paddy procurement and disbursement of short-term agricultural loans to farmers in the state.
A day after the incident, employees of cooperative banks under the Surguja division submitted a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, to the Inspector General of Police (Surguja range) in Ambikapur town (Surguja district) seeking take action against the MLA. As per the memorandum, Singh allegedly slapped and abused clerk Rajesh Pal and peon Arvind Singh outside the bank in front of hundreds of farmers during office hours.