Four arrested for ‘planning’ to attack Jarange-Patil’s critic

Four Maratha Kranti Morcha activists arrested for planning to attack critic of community leader. No weapons found, booked under various sections.

MUMBAI: The Marine Drive police have arrested four Maratha Kranti Morcha (MKM) activists for allegedly planning to attack Ajay Maharaj Baraskar who had recently criticised Maratha community leader Manoj Jarange-Patil. The police said one of the arrested people, Vinod Pokharkar, has contested Lok Sabha elections from Thane district and is the convenor of MKM.

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On Friday, the police detained Ganesh Dhokale Patil, 54, Sandeep Tanpure, 37, Vinay Deshmukh, 49, and Vinod Pokharkar, 38, all residents of Navi Mumbai.

According to the police, Baraskar, who had criticised Jarange-Patil, recently came to Mumbai to address the press and meet some activists. “He was staying at Hotel Astoria in Churchgate when the four approached the staff enquiring about Baraskar. They, however, fled after noticing presence of cops in plain clothes, who had come to the hotel with Baraskar’s aide Satyavan Shinde,” said the police officer. Suspecting some foul play, the police personnel chased the accused and caught hold of them.

They police said they did not find any weapons on them, but “They were angry as Baraskar was making statements against Jarange-Patil.”

Baraskar had recently criticised Jarange-Patil after which he was even sacked from the Prahar party by MLA and party chief Bachchu Kadu. Jarange-Patil had also criticised Baraskar saying that he was a fake Maharaj and government’s agent.

“We have registered a case against the accused four and have arrested them. They are booked under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Maharashtra Police Act, 1951, and under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) 151 arrest to prevent cognizable offence,” said a police officer.