Maharashtra Co-operation Minister Harshvardhan Patil suffered an injury in his left eye on Friday after, when a few agitating members of Dhangar community hurl ink-like substance containing anti-fungal drug at him while he was attending a function in his home constituency of Indapur in Pune district of western Maharashtra.
Patil, who complained of severe irritation in his eye after a few Dhangar community activists threw ink-like anti-fungal drug at Bhigwan in Indapur taluka of Pune district in western Maharashtra, was initially rushed to a hospital at Baramati, from where he was taken to Ruby Hall Clinic in Pune later in the afternoon.
Following the incident, two Dhangar community — identified as Sachin Gopal Malgunde (27) and Manik Thorat (33) – were arrested by the Pune district rural police, in connection with the incident.The two arrested activists were among the Dhangar community members, who were staging a protest near the venue of a function that the Minister had come to inaugurate, demanding the inclusion of their community in the scheduled tribes category so as entail them for benefits of reservation.
Talking to media persons after coming out of a primary health centre at Baramati where he was initially rushed to, Patil said, “When I was getting into my car, four or five people rushed towards me. They splashed an ink-like substance at me. Initially I thought it was ink. later, I was told that an anti-fungal drug that looked like ink. There is irritation, pain in my left eye, and slight swelling on the face. Otherwise, I am all right”.