Ballia BJP leader expelled from party after obscene video goes viral on social media

Local BJP leader Babban Singh Raghuvanshi has been expelled from the party with immediate effect after a purported video showing him engaging in obscene acts with a dancer went viral.

BJP Ballia district president Sanjay Mishra said taking note of the video, Raghuvanshi has been expelled from the party with immediate effect by state general secretary Govind Narain Shukla.

The video, apparently from a wedding event, shows Raghuvanshi (70), indulging in inappropriate behaviour and vulgar acts with a female dancer, who is seen sitting on his lap.

Raghuvanshi is a former BJP candidate from the Bansdih Assembly seat in the 1993 elections.

Reacting to the controversy, Mishra had earlier told PTI on Thursday that the party had taken the matter seriously and said action would be taken against the leader.

Raghuvanshi, a deputy chairman of the Kisan Cooperative Mill in Rasra, dismissed the video as fake and accused some party members of conspiring to defame him.

“This is a deliberate conspiracy to malign my image. The video is fabricated. Members of MLA Ketakee Singh’s family are behind this," he told reporters.

Ketakee Singh is the BJP MLA from Bansdih Assembly constituency.

Raghuvanshi claimed the incident took place during a wedding procession of the village head of Durgipur in Bihar, which was also attended by Ketakee Singh’s family.

“They secretly filmed this to defame me. I have never done such things. I’m an old man now," he said.

Former IPS officer and president of the Azad Adhikar Sena, Amitabh Thakur, wrote to the Ballia superintendent of police (SP) demanding lodging of an FIR against Raghuvanshi. In his letter, Thakur described the actions in the viral video as “highly obscene" and “shameful", asserting that it took place at a public event in Bihar, though the matter clearly involves a political figure from Ballia.

Thakur urged Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to order an investigation into the authenticity of the video. He demanded the removal of Raghuvanshi from his official position at the cooperative mill if the video is found genuine.

The BJP district president had reiterated that the party was treating the issue with seriousness. He said senior party leaders were informed of the matter and that action would be taken against Raghuvanshi after due consideration.

India