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Criminal Marne felicitating newly elected NCP (SP) MP raises eyebrows
Gajanan heads the Marne gang involved in many cases related to murder, attempted murder, kidnapping and extortion
The viral videos of notorious gangster Gajanan Marne felicitating newly elected Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) Ahmednagar Member of Parliament (MP) Nilesh Lanke at his city visit on Thursday have sparked controversy on the social media.
Gajanan heads the Marne gang involved in many cases related to murder, attempted murder, kidnapping and extortion.
Lanke said, “I don’t know who Marne is. After my Delhi visit, I returned to Pune by air and reached the residence of my worker. When I was leaving the place, two-three men approached me and forced me to come to their home and as a public representative, I could not ignore the requests. We visited their home, had tea and he (Marne) felicitated me.”
According to Lanke, he came to know about the criminal’s identity from his supporters in Ahmednagar two-three hours after the incident.
Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party leader and MLA Amol Mitkari claimed that Lanke met Marne to express his gratitude for his assistance provided in Lok Sabha elections from Ahmednagar constituency. He also questioned whether Marne helped NCP (SP) candidates in Baramati and Ahmednagar during the LS polls.
Before the LS elections, Ajit Pawar’s son Parth Pawar had met Marne, prompting the NCP chief to issue instructions to party leaders to be cautious about people during electioneering.
Meanwhile, NCP (SP) leader Vidya Chavan told a Marathi news channel that she would speak to Lanke to understand what prompted his visit to Marne and his acceptance of the felicitation. “Wrong is wrong. Whether it’s Lanke or anyone else, no one is supporting it,” she asserted.
In March 2021, supporters of Marne had organised a bike rally to celebrate his release from jail causing a ruckus on the Pune-Mumbai expressway. Immediately after the rally, cops arrested Marne and his supporters and invoked Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the criminal.
Marne was recently paraded with other offenders at the Pune police commissionerate and were warned to refrain uploading reels/videos/photos with politicians.
