BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi Arrested for Allegedly Attacking Police Horse

BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi raising a stick on a police horse, Shaktiman, during a protest march in Dehradun earlier this week. (Photo: ANI)

BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi, accused of attacking police horse Shaktiman during a BJP protest earlier this week, was arrested in Dehradun on Friday morning.

A BJP worker was also arrested on Thursday in connection with the attack. Three days after the attack that sparked outrage, the worker identified as Pramod Bora was arrested from Haldwani in Nainital district for forcefully pulling the bridle of the horse and causing its fall at the protest venue on March 14 and leaving it injured.

Bora was arrested from Mukhani area of Haldwani on a requisition by Dehradun police, Nainital SSP Sweety Agarwal said, adding he has been handed over to a police team from Dehradun and is being taken to the state capital.

Also Read: ‘He Did Not Hit the Horse’, Says Daughter of BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi

Shaktiman, a well trained horse which was part of Uttarakhand Mounted Police for years, was allegedly attacked by Joshi, an MLA from Mussoorie, during the march. The animal suffered fractures in one of his hind legs during the protest.

Shaktiman’s injured hind leg was amputated in an emergency life-saving surgery.

The surgery was conducted at a veterinary hospital by a team of doctors led by surgeon Feroze Khambatta, hours after Army doctors from Pune opined that one of the hind legs of the horse that was fractured will have to be amputated as the animal might lose its life by tomorrow due to spread of gangrene from the wound.

(With agency inputs.)