Jitendra Awhad’s car attacked for remarks on Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati

On Thursday at around 4.30 am, Awhad’s car was about to take the Eastern Freeway on P D’Mello Road when three people attacked it with wooden rods

MUMBAI: Two days after NCP MLC Amol Mitkari’s car was vandalised by MNS workers in Akola, the car of NCP (Sharad Pawar) leader and former minister Jitendra Awhad was attacked by three people in South Mumbai. The attack on Thursday was in response to Awhad’s remark on former BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati. Awhad had blamed Sambhajiraje for communal tension in Kolhapur after the latter headed a protest march to the Shivaji-era Vishalgad Fort in Kolhapur, which also led to an attack on a particular community in the area last month.

NCP (SP) MLA Jitendra Awhad was travelling from Mumbai to Thane when his car was attacked and vandalised by Swaraj Sanghatana activists in Mumbai. Awhad interacted with the media at his home in Thane later, with police personnel in tow. (Praful Gangurde /HT Photo)

On Thursday at around 4.30 am, Awhad’s car was about to take the Eastern Freeway on P D’Mello Road when three people attacked it with wooden rods. As the glass of the windows shattered, Awhad’s driver accelerated and sped away. The attackers were raising slogans of ‘Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj ki jai’.

Swarajya Sangathana, a political outfit founded by Sambhajiraje, took responsibility for the attack. “Our workers attacked Awhad for his objectionable remark on Sambhajiraje’s lineage,” said a representative from the Sanghatana in a video released soon after the attack. The Dongri police have registered a case against five or six people belonging to the Sangathana, including its general secretary Dhanajay Jadhav and party worker Ankush Kadam for the attack. The case was registered on the complaint of Nitin Deshmukh, who is the state spokesperson for the NCP (Sharad Pawar).

After the attack, Awhad insisted that he still stood by his remarks. “Sambhaji has betrayed the ideology of Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj, a Maratha king and great social reformer, who is also one of the descendants of Shivaji Maharaj,” he said. Sambhajiraje is also a descendant of the Maratha king.

On July 14, Sambhajiraje had led a mob to Vishalgad Fort to remove all encroachments on it, some of which were protected by a court order. On its way, the mob went berserk and attacked Gajapur village, which is a few kilometres away from the fort. They not only assaulted the villagers but also pelted stones and vandalised a mosque. The police booked 500 people, including Sambhajiraje, and arrested 21 suspects for arson and rioting.

In response, Awhad said that there was a need to investigate the bloodline of Sambhajiraje. “A person from the lineage of the great Shahu Maharaj making statements that could incite riots cannot be considered his real heir,” he said.

Intensifying his attack on the former MP, Awhad said that “the real politics” was that Sambhajiraje wanted to become an MP but his father Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj II got elected as the MP from the Congress. “That is why he is jealous,” he said.

A police officer said that a case had been registered under Sections 109 (attempt to murder), 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), 189 (unlawful assembly), 61 (criminal conspiracy) and 190 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, 2023. Several teams of the crime branch and local police, after registering the offense, have started looking for the alleged accused and left for Kolhapur and Pune.