In a shocking incident that rocked the Vidhan Bhavan premises, a group of legislators assaulted a police officer on Tuesday, a day after he fined an MlA — notorious for his money and muscle power —for a traffic violation on the iconic Worli Sea link in south-central Mumbai.
On a day when the angry members cutting across party lines stalled the proceedings and forced five noisy adjournments in the State Assembly over the “misbehaviour” of the police officer concerned, a group of legislators - led by the “fined” MlA Kshitij Thakur of the Bahujan Vikas Party — thrashed Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Suryavanshi of Worli Police Station on the Vidhan Bhavan premises.
Suryavanshi was at the Vidhan Bhavan to present his side of the story, in response to a breach of privilege notice moved against him by
Thakur in connection with Monday’s incident.
Monday’s incident —which saw Suryavashi stop the vehicle of Thakur (son of Bahujan Vikas Party leader Hitendra Thakur) and fine him for over-speeding on the Worli Sea link — triggered vociferous protests in the State Assembly, with the members of different political hues demanding suspension of the police officer for his “misbehavour”.
Thakur had been fined by Suryavanshi travelling at a speed of 101 kmph on the Worli Sea link, where the stipulated speed limit is 50 kmph. The incident, which had taken place when the MlA was on his way to the State Assembly, had led to an argument between the two.
With Thakur having lodged a complaint with the deputy speaker and moved a breach of privilege notice against Suryavanshi, the police officer had been summoned to the State Assembly on Tuesday to present his side of the story.
When Thakur tabled a breach of privilege notice against Suryavanshi in the Assembly, the police officer was sitting in the visitors’ gallery of the House. The members cutting across the party lines came to Thakur’s defence and demanded suspension of the police officer concerned. Some of the members also rushed to the well of the house to press their demand. While the uproarious scenes were on in the House, some of the MlAs claimed that they had seen Suryavanshi making gestures towards in the legislators in the House.
Having spotted Suryavanshi in the visitors’ gallery, some of the members — including Thakur, Ram Kadam (MNS), Rajan Salvi (Shiv Sena), Pradeep Jaiswal (Independent) and Jaikumar Rawal (BJP) — rushed outside the House and allegedly managed to catch hold of the police officer in question and thrashed him on the first floor of the Vidhan Bhavan building.
Injured Suryavanshi was whisked away by the Vidhan Bhavan security staff and kept in a room where doctors checked him and State Home Minister RR Patil and leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse visited him in the security room. The injured police
officer was later admitted
to St George’s Hospital
for treatment.
The attack sparked protests from the top police officials, led by Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh who met Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and lodged a formal protest against the assault on Suryavnashi.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray was first among the leaders who condemned the attack, his party’s group leader Bal Nandgaonkar said: “The attack is condemnable. The presiding officer is free to take any action that he deems fit against all the legislators, including our own MlA, involved in the incident.MNS chief Raj Thackeray is extremely angry with party legislator Ram Kadam and fired me”.