Faced with public anger, police on Wednesday registered a case against Uttarakhand urban development, finance and parliamentary affairs minister Premchand Aggarwal who was caught on camera assaulting a man for allegedly crossing his convoy on Tuesday afternoon.

Aggarwal has been charged with rioting, voluntarily causing hurt and intentional insult with the intent to provoke a breach of peace.

Public protests had started in Rishikesh and Dehradun after Aggarwal, his security guard and aides were seen raining blows on a resident of Rishikesh, identified as Surendra Singh Negi, for allegedly crossing the minister's convoy.

The cops on duty there had taken Negi into custody and later released him. But he was again picked up from his residence by the police on Tuesday night and arrested on the charge of loot, rioting and preventing the minister from doing his duties.

"There was a traffic snarl and the minister’s convoy was stranded on the Rishikesh-Haridwar road. I was going home on my scooter and crossed his car from his left side because there was enough space for a two-wheeler to pass through. The minister got angry and started hurling abuses at me. I stopped and reacted. But instead of apologising, he got furious. He came out of the car, shouted at me and slapped me twice. When I reacted, he and his goons chased, kicked and punched me for about five minutes. They also thrashed a man who tried to save me," Negi had told reporters on Tuesday.

Dilip Singh Kunwar, superintendent of police of Dehradun, said: "We received a complaint from Negi and registered a case against the minister, his security guard Garav Rana and one more person for assaulting Negi and taking law and order in their hand."

A large number of locals had gathered in front of Rishikesh Kotwali police station on Tuesday night demanding Negi's release. Similar protests took place in Dehradun. However, Negi was arrested and sent to jail.

The Congress called a state-wide bandh on Wednesday against what they dubbed as "goondaism of the BJP’s minister", demanding his arrest and removal from the Pushkar Singh Dhami government.

Aggarwal claimed Negi and the other youth slapped him while he was sitting in his car and also tore his kurta. The minister showed a torn blue kurta to the media and claimed that the youths took away his money and papers that were in his pocket.

However, in the purported video of the incident that surfaced on social media, a person resembling Aggarwal can be seen wearing a green kurta. He is seen slapping one of the youths while his guard and henchmen kick and punch him. They are also seen attacking another youth when he tries to intervene and save Negi.

Aggarwal said: "I had gone to Rishikesh to attend a function at Shri Bharat Mandir and was returning home to Dehradun when this man intimidated me through a hand gesture near Koyal Grant. When I came out of the car, he and his friend attacked me, tore my kurta and forcefully took everything, including money from my pocket.”

Aggarwal is known for intimidating people. He had threatened journalists last year when they asked him about irregularities in the appointment of Vidhan Sabha staff members during his tenure as Speaker from March 2017 to March 2022. Present Speaker Ritu Khanduri had conducted an inquiry and cancelled 228 appointments — a majority of which were made during Aggarwal's time. However, chief minister Dhami didn’t take any action against Aggarwal. The minister was also caught on camera intimidating some people during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2019.

Suryakant Dhasmana, vice-president of the Uttarakhand Congress committee, said: "The BJP leaders are intoxicated by power and doing criminal activities openly because they have the approval of their seniors. Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, president of the Wrestling Federation of India, is still in the BJP and threatening the Olympians who have accused him of molesting them. Aggarwal is a habitual offender. He had misbehaved with people during the lockdown and was involved in illegal appointments.”

“We appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Dhami to protect the people from such rogues of their party," Dhasmana added.