FIR against Ashok Kheny for abusing TV journalist

Mumbai, Jun 9: Independent MLA Ashok Kheny, accused of being part in the recent horse-trading scandal, has now landed into yet another controversy. Kheny was caught on the camera abusing a reporter of television news channel Times Now. The video has been released by the channel and is rapidly turning viral on social media.

An FIR was filed by the Mumbai police against Karnataka MLA Ashok Kheny based on a complaint lodged by Times Now Mumbai bureau chief Megha Prasad. Megha approached the police after the MLA and businessman refused to produce a written apology for abusing her while she was trying to interview him on allegations of horse-trading for elections to the Rajya Sabha.

The case against the MLA under IPC section 509 (using word intended to insult the modesty of a woman) has been registered at the Santa Cruz police station.

"I was just doing my job by quesitoning him. His reaction is just not acceptable. He had no business treating a journalist, who is doing her job, like that. Yesterday when I went to the police station, I just lodged a simple complaint against Kheny. But about 10 minutes later they said they want to register an FIR. I went back and filed a detailed complaint,"said Megha.

The journalist approached him at J.W. Marriot hotel in Juhu area, where few independent MLAs from Karnataka had been brought together by the Congress party.

In her complaint she said "I was following a story about the alleged horse-trading indulged into by a few MLAs from Karnataka, in connection with the Rajya Sabha elections. I spotted MLA Ashok Kheny in the hotel lobby. I first introduced myself and asked for two minutes of his time. He kept walking away from me and called the hotel staff, and in an absolutely unacceptable manner used abusing language for me saying "arrest karo iss saali ko". Such language cannot be tolerated at all."

The channel's editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami called Kheny on Tuesday and asked him for a written apology for using "disgraceful" language against his colleague, who was only doing her job.

In a sting operation conducted by Times Now and India Today last week, it was found that Congress leadership offered lucrative amount of kickbacks to the independent MLAs, in order to win their support for the Rajya Sabha elections. Although, the MLAs were not offered direct cash, a tacit deal was made assuring them that they would be allotted huge sums of amount for development of their respective constituencies.