Mayor of Mahagadhimai municipality in Bara has been accused of detaining a man after the man's son complained about lack of construction of drain.
Mukesh Kushwaha of Mahagadhimai-2 had called Mayor Upendra Prasad Yadav at seven Monday morning complaining there was a pool of water on the road as the drain was not completed in time.
Mayor Yadav, who won the election on a Nepali Congress (NC) ticket, reached the spot two hours after the phone call and had a heated exchange with the locals who complained that work was not completed in time despite allocation of Rs 4 million. A local youth posted the video of the exchange on Facebook.
The angry mayor went to his office and instructed the municipal police to bring Mukesh. The municipal police took Mukesh's father Harendra Mahato after not finding him.
"Municipal police put our dad, who was working in the field, on the van and took him away using expletives," Mukesh's younger brother Sikendra Kumar told Setopati. "Mayor apparently asked our dad where Mukesh is at the municipality office."
Sikendra Kumar claimed that Mayor Yadav asked the dad to keep shoes of others on his head."But dad didn't oblige. They then apparently took him to the toilet and locked him in for around 15-20 minutes," Sikendra added. "They should take legal action action against Mukesh if he had committed any mistake. But they took away our dad who had not done anything wrong. Mukesh himself didn't commit any crime and just demanded that the drain be constructed in time."
Sikendra claimed that Mayor Yadav took Harendra to the mayor's home after taking him out of the toilet and released him only at around eight Monday evening.
Mukesh told Setopati that he did not go home Monday after municipal police came looking for him. "The municipal police would have thrashed me if they had found me. I, therefore, did not go home yesterday," he stated. "I had just demanded that the drain be completed in time."
Mayor Yadav, however, refuted the allegations. "I called Mukesh's dad to the office to know about Mukesh. I called him during office hour. I did not beat him or lock him inside the toilet. This is blatant lie. It is not just now, Mukesh has been editing my photographs and posting them on Facebook and doing other things for two years now. I called his dad to find out if Mukesh posted the video of the discussion about the drain as well," Yadav claimed.
Inspector with Bara Police Bikash Raj Khanal said no complaint has been lodged against the mayor but Mayor Yadav has lodged a defamation complaint against a person.
Police arrested Dipendra Kushwaha, 27, Tuesday on charge of writing unnecessary things against the mayor on Facebook. Police suspect that the video of heated exchange between the mayor and locals was posted by Dipendra through a fake handle.
