The brother of the slain worker, Sunil Singh, is a PCS officer. A video of the District Magistrate Prashant Sharma holding Sunil Singh by the collar had gone viral on the social media, after which the Union Minister tweeted: "Vinaysheel evam samvedansheel banein hum, yahi prayaas hona chahiye. Janata ke hum sevak hain, shaasak nahi (We should always try to be humble and caring. We are here to serve people not to rule.)" She tagged the district magistrate in her tweet.
Prashant Sharma, a 2012 batch IAS officer, had entered into a verbal duel with Sunil Singh, a PCS trainee officer, brother of BJP worker Vijay Kumar Singh alias Sonu, who had been shot dead in Amethi on Tuesday evening over extortion.
Sunil was protesting against the delay in postmortem and arrest of Sonu's killers when the district magistrate shoved him and held him by his collar.
"The district's most senior officer is standing here. Can you show me if that man has a firearm?" Sharma is seen asking Sunil.
Later, on Wednesday night, a video of Sunil Singh was posted on the social media in which he is seen giving a clean chit to the district magistrate and claiming him to be an old acquaintance.
The Amethi Police has registered a case of murder against three unidentified people in Gauriganj. Sonu Singh, owner of a brick kiln, was shot dead allegedly over extortion demand of Rs 2 lakh barely 500 m away from the Superintendent of Police's (SP) office in Amethi on Tuesday evening.
Sonu's father Shivnayak Singh is also a local leader of the BJP. Sonu's brother Arpit Kumar Singh had accused Chandra Shekhar Kesarwani, Shubham Tiwari and three other unidentified persons in the complaint filed at Gauriganj police station after which an FIR was lodged.
This was the second controversy involving Sharma in past one week. Sharma had arrived late for a court hearing in Amethi and the judge punished hin by keeping him in custody till the evening.
( With inputs from IANS )