150 people booked for smearing PM Narendra Modi, FM Arun Jaitley posters with ink, eggs

MEERUT: As many as 150 people have been booked in connection with smearing of black ink and throwing eggs at the posters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley here during a demonstration by the businessmen and bullion traders four days ago.

The FIR was registered today under sections 147 (rioting), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 505 (public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code in which traders' leader Rajkumar Bharadwaj, General Secretary of Meerut Bullion Traders Association Survesh Kumar Saraf and three others have been named while 145 are unknown, police said.

They said the process to identify others involved in the incident is on.

According to police, on March 23 on the occasion of Holi, city-based businessmen and bullion traders had organised a demonstration during which protesters at Begumpul smeared the posters of the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister with ink and also threw eggs at them.

The bullion traders association has, however, denied being involved in the smearing posters.

"The Association has no link with the people who were involved in blackening the posters and throwing eggs at them. Police should take action against those involved in the incident and not against the innocent," Saraf said.

Meanwhile, Congress has also threatened to stage protest if cases against the businessmen were not withdrawn.