Peon booked for performing black magic after lemon found under civic official’s car

A peon in Ulhasnagar has been booked under the Anti Superstition and Black Magic Act for allegedly placing a lemon under the car of an assistant municipal commissioner. The incident occurred at a civic body's EV charging station. The peon has not yet been arrested.

Ulhasnagar: A peon working with Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation was booked on Friday under the Anti Superstition and Black Magic Act for allegedly keeping a lemon under the car of assistant municipal commissioner Manish Hiware.

HT Image

The incident occurred at the civic body’s Electric Vehicle (EV) charging station where Hiware had parked his car and met a civic official. When Hiware was about to leave, one of the peons told him that a lemon was kept under the wheels of his car.

Hiware, visibly anxious, rushed to the parking spot and found a lemon pressed under the wheels. He then checked the CCTV footage and suspected that a peon, identified as Dhananjay Gaikwad, had kept the lemon.

Hiware said, “I took permission from commissioner Aziz Shaikh to lodge a case against the peon as I feared for my life after spotting the lemon.”

Madhukar Kad, a senior police inspector from the central police station said, “A case was lodged under section 3 of Anti-Black Magic Act, also known formally as the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013. No arrest has been made yet. We have issued a notice to the accused to appear at the police station.”