Still smarting under wide-spread criticism over the hasty demolition of “illegal” portions of actress Kangana Ranaut’s bungalow by the party-run Brihmanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the ruling Shiv Sena on Saturday faced further embarrassment, this time over Friday's assault on a retired naval officer by its workers in north Mumbai, as Defence Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to the victim and condemned the incident.
A day after a group of Shiv Sainiks, led by a party shakha pramukh, attacked a 65-year-retired Navy officer Madan Sharma at Kandivli in north Mumbai for forwarding a cartoon that projected chief minister Uddhav Thackeray in a poor light, Rajnath spoke to the victim and made enquiries about his health. He said that such attacks on ex-servicemen “were completely unacceptable and deplorable”.
“Spoke to retired naval officer, Shri Madan Sharma who was attacked by hooligans in Mumbai and enquired about his health. Such attacks on Ex-Servicemen are completely unacceptable and deplorable. I wish Madanji a speedy recovery,” Rajnath tweeted.
Meanwhile, the the Samata Nagar Police on Friday night arrested the six persons --- comprising Shiv Sena Shakha Pramukh Kamlesh Kadam and five of their associates Sanjay Manjre, Rakesh Belnekar, Pratap Sund Vera, Sunil Desai and Rakesh Mulik – in connection with the incident.
The six arrested Shiv Sainiks were on Saturday produced before a city court which granted them bail.
Additional Commissioner of Police (North) Dilip Sawant said that the arrested Shiv Sainiks had been booked for various charges including unlawful assembly and rioting.
Madan Sharma, who is a retired chief petty officer in the Navy, is a member of housing society at Kandivli in north Mumbai. On Wednesday, Sharma had forwarded a cartoon showing Uddhav prostrating before pictures of NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress President Sonia Gandhi in a WhatsApp group of his housing society. He had seen that cartoon in another WhatsApp group earlier.
According to Sharma’s daughter Dr Sheela Sharma, one of the members of their housing society group had alerted Kadam about the “objectionable” cartoon
On Friday, a group of eight to ten Shiv Sainiks came to his housing society and assaulted Sharma.
Later, CCTV footage posted on Twitter by BJP MLA from Kandivli (east) Atul Bhatkhalkar showed a group of men chasing after Sharma and dragging him outside the society premises by his shirt collar. The footage, which went viral, also showed the men slapping Sharma and pulling at his shirt even as the society’s security guards remained silent spectators.
Later in the evening, Sharma lodged a complaint with the Samta Nagar police station against Kadam and other Shiv Sainiks.
Meanwhile, apart from demanding stern action against the Shiv Sainiks behind the incident, Sharma’s daughter Dr Sheela Sharma has rooted for the imposition of President's Rule in Maharashtra, citing that nobody was safe in the state.