Viral video: Minister's brother thrashes workers in Kurla

Pic/Videograb

A video clip which went viral on social media shows Maharashtra Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik's brother and corporator Kaptan Malik roughing up a few labourers at a roadside work-site on Tuesday.

In the clip, said to be one-and-half months old, Kaptan, corporator from ward 170 in suburban Kurla, can be seen thrashing the labourers and asking them to show the work order. When contacted, Kaptan claimed that the labourers were "illegally" laying fibre cables for Internet network of some private firms along the busy LBS Road in his ward.

"I saw some labourers laying the cables without permission and told them not to proceed further until they had a work permit. The next day again some labourers turned up to lay the lines without permit," he alleged.

"I again asked them if they had the requisite permission. I also checked with local ward office, which said no permission had been given," he told PTI. The corporator further alleged that the labourers spoke to him "arrogantly", leading to his reaction as seen in the clip.

When contacted for comment, Nawab Malik said, "Action should be taken if a person has done something wrong. Those seen in the video have the right to go to the police. "It does not matter if one is a corporator or brother of a minister. Nobody is above the law," the NCP leader added.

Loksabha MP Kirit Somaiya also took to Twitter to say that he has acknowledged the video and has requested the officials to protect the labourers and check the objective behind the incident.

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