Kanpur, June 21 -- A passenger was allegedly assaulted at the Jhansi railway station on Thursday night following a dispute with Babina BJP MLA Rajeev Singh Paricha over seating arrangements in the executive class coach of the Nizamuddin-Bhopal Vande Bharat Express. Paricha has lodged an FIR with the Government Railway Police, Jhansi, while the passenger-who reportedly suffered a broken nose in the assault-has filed a complaint in Bhopal, police said. The altercation reportedly began when Paricha, who was travelling with his wife Kamli Singh and son Shreyansh Singh, requested a fellow passenger to adjust seats so the family could sit together. Paricha was allotted seat no. 8 in coach E-2, while his wife and son were seated on 50 and 51, respectively. According to the FIR, the passengers occupying seats 49 and 52 were sitting with their legs outstretched and eating, prompting the MLA to ask one of them to move. This led to a verbal confrontation. Paricha alleged that one of the passengers used inappropriate language and threatened his security guard when he intervened. He said he stepped into the coach's gallery to de-escalate the situation, but the passengers followed him, assuming he was making a complaint call and resumed the argument. When the train reached Jhansi, a group of around eight people reportedly entered the coach and assaulted one of the passengers involved in the dispute, identified as Rajprakash, 50, who was travelling to Bhopal. Eyewitnesses claimed the attackers were known to Paricha. The passenger sustained injuries during the assault. Paricha denied any involvement, stating that he and his family had exited the train before the incident took place. "Our journey was disrupted and we were subjected to mental harassment," he said in a statement. Former Madhya Pradesh minister Ramniwas Rawat, who was also travelling in the same coach, criticised the incident on social media. In a post on X tagging railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, he said a passenger was beaten by a group that boarded the train at Jhansi and demanded accountability and a fair investigation. Superintendent of police, Railways (Jhansi), Vipul Srivastava, who did not refer to Paricha as an MLA, instead calling him "Jhansi ke rahne wale" (resident of Jhansi), confirmed that an FIR had been lodged with the GRP Jhansi. "The passenger who was attacked has lodged a complaint in Bhopal," Srivastava said. "I have asked inspector, GRP Jhansi, Yogendra Singh to collect CCTV footage from the train and the Jhansi railway station. A police team has left to retrieve footage from Bhopal," he added. Inspector Yogendra Kumar Singh said CCTV footage from Bhopal has been requested and statements from passengers are being recorded. "Further action will be taken based on evidence," he said....