The Maharashtra police on Monday arrested 17 Shiv Sena workers from Pandharpur for allegedly attacking a BJP member, throwing ink on him, attempting to make him wear a saree, putting a garland of bangles around his neck and beating him up.
The BJP worker, Shirish Katekar, had allegedly made some remarks about Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday during a protest that angered his party workers, who wanted to get back at him. The 17 persons were produced before the court on Monday afternoon and were granted bail.
SDPO (Pandharpur division) Vikram Kadam said that on Friday, Katekar along with others had gone to the MSEB office in Pandharpur to protest seeking electricity bills across the state be waived off for the period of the Covid imposed lockdown.
As per the police, around that time in a speech he gave, he made some references to Thackeray that did not go down well with the local Sainiks after a video clip of his comments was shared widely on social media platforms.
#UPDATE FIR registered against 17 accused, all of them arrested: Solapur Police, Maharashtra
Shiv Sena workers had poured black ink on a BJP leader and forced him to wear a saree after the latter criticised Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, in Solapur yesterday. https://t.co/jLCjUBwTci
— ANI (@ANI) February 8, 2021
Angered, the 17 Shiv Sena party members went to his residence on Saturday where they poured ink on his clothes, put a garland of bangles around his neck and tried making him wear a saree. Further, some of the accused also allegedly beat him up and threatened to kill him if in the future he made a derogatory remark against the Thackerays.
After the video of the attack that took place on Saturday evening went viral, the local Pandharpur police registered an FIR in the matter on charges of voluntarily causing hurt by using dangerous weapons, rioting, defamation and intimidation among other sections.
“We identified the 17 persons and placed them under arrest today. They were produced before the court in the afternoon and were sent to judicial custody. Their lawyer then applied for bail which was granted by the local court following which they have been released on bail,” Kadam said.
