4 masked men attack MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande at Shivaji Park

“I will not get cowed down by such attacks. I will continue to do my work. I am not scared of anyone,” said Deshpande after coming out of the hospital.

Mumbai: In the early hours of Friday, four masked men attacked Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) general secretary and former corporator Sandeep Deshpande, who went to Shivaji Park for a morning walk. He was taken to the Hinduja Hospital as his leg was fractured.

MNS corporator Sandeep Deshpande. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT file)

“I will not get cowed down by such attacks. I will continue to do my work. I am not scared of anyone,” said Deshpande after coming out of the hospital.

The attackers were armed with stumps and bats.

MNS leader Ameya Khopkar said, “This is a pre-planned attack. Deshpande was constantly exposing scams during the Uddhav Thackeray rule. I demand that Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray and his cousin Varun Sardesai be called for interrogation and questioned for the attack.”

MNS workers protested outside the Shiv Sena bhavan late on Friday evening.

BJP leader Nitesh Rane said: “In the last few days, he has been constantly making allegations against Varun Sardesai. The attackers were also talking about the same names. One needs to find out the involvement of Sardesai and the government must take cognisance.”

“The accused were sitting on a bench. When Deshpande came, they attacked him with a bat and stumps. They had worn short pants and all of them went in different directions and took cabs,” said a police officer from Shivaji Park police station. “We are searching for them.”

An FIR was filed for an attempt to murder, criminal intimidation, intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of the peace and common intention against the unknown accused.

Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said, “This is a question of law and order. I don’t know about the attack. We don’t do such attacks. Some people orchestrate such attacks to get attention. What will happen if we are blamed, we will be named in papers.’’