Alleged Threat by PWD Engineer to Former Congress Candidate

Mandi, September 20: – An incident involving alleged threats by a Public Works Department (PWD) engineer, E.K. Sharma, towards former Congress candidate Jiwan Thakur from the Jogindernagar constituency has caused a stir. Jiwan Thakur reported the incident to the Superintendent of Police (SP) in Mandi, seeking action against the engineer.

In his complaint, E.K. Sharma claimed that the Congress leader, along with 20-25 of his supporters, forcibly detained him in his office for about 17 minutes. They closed the office door and threatened him with severe consequences when he refused to comply. One of the leader’s supporters physically restrained him, poured water on his desk, and threw water behind his chair. They also threatened to lift him out of the office. Eventually, after considerable effort, the office superintendent facilitated their exit. The incident occurred on Tuesday evening.

E.K. Sharma has lodged a written complaint with the police superintendent in Mandi and high-ranking officials of the department. SP Mandi, Soumya Sambhavanan, confirmed the receipt of the complaint and mentioned that an investigation is underway.

The root cause of this controversy lies in the allocation of responsibilities for the Ladhbhadol sub-mandal. There is a dispute regarding whether Jiwan Thakur should be given this additional responsibility or if it should be entrusted to another Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) in Baijnath. This disagreement has exacerbated the situation.

Jiwan Thakur’s Response – We Didn’t Threaten Anyone
Congress leader Jiwan Thakur has responded to the entire incident, claiming that he did not threaten the PWD engineer but rather made a polite request. Thakur asserted that the SDO in Ladhbhadol, who was given additional responsibilities, is not working at that location. Hence, he had requested that someone else be appointed in his place, and there were no threats involved. Thakur also appreciated that a complaint has been filed with the police and hoped that a thorough investigation would reveal the truth.