Overview

• Ashish Patel called the initial response one-sided and said Brijendra Verma was harassed to the point of losing his temper.
• He urged scrutiny of all CCTV footage from Verma’s entry to the office through the end of the episode before assigning blame.
• Patel said he spoke to Basic Education Minister Sandeep Singh, who assured an impartial investigation and strict accountability.
• The alleged assault occurred during an inquiry into a complaint that Verma harassed an assistant teacher, after which he reportedly took off his belt and hit BEO Akhilesh Pratap Singh.
• Police arrested Verma and he was suspended from his post as a short video of the incident circulated, and local reports say the assistant teacher was also suspended.