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NCP (SP) spokesperson Lawande held over remarks on Warkari sect leaders
Following his arrest, several NCP (SP) leaders, including MLA Rohit Pawar and state unit president Shashikant Shinde, reached Wagholi Police Station and staged a protest against the action.
Pune: The Wagholi police on Thursday arrested Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) spokesperson Vikas Lawande in Pune for allegedly making controversial remarks against some spiritual leaders associated with the Warkari sect, officials said. The police action took place after a Pune court rejected his plea seeking an extension of interim protection from arrest in the case registered at Wagholi Police Station on May 8.
Amitesh Kumar, Pune police commissioner, said, “We arrested Lawande after the court rejected his anticipatory bail application.”
Lawande was earlier granted interim protection from arrest till May 20. Following his arrest, several NCP (SP) leaders, including MLA Rohit Pawar and state unit president Shashikant Shinde, reached Wagholi Police Station and staged a protest against the action.
Lawande has maintained that the case against him is false and politically motivated. In a post on social media platform X, he claimed he was taken into police custody despite there being no substantial evidence against him. He alleged that the police arrived at his residence late at night without prior notice and targeted him while those involved in the earlier ink attack on him were still absconding.
Lawande had allegedly referred to some spiritual leaders and members of the Warkari sect as “infiltrators” and “introducers”, triggering protests and sharp reactions from sections of the community.
Warkaris are devotees of Lord Vitthal and follow the Bhakti tradition of Maharashtra.
On May 9, members of the Warkari sect, including right-wing kirtankar Sangram Bhandare and his supporters, allegedly intercepted Lawande near Mhatobachi Alandi and smeared his face with black ink over the remarks. A separate FIR was later registered against Bhandare and others in connection with the attack. According to Lawande’s complaint, he was allegedly threatened with a firearm and assaulted during the incident.
In his social media post, Lawande said he had already filed a complaint at Lonikand Police Station regarding the alleged life-threatening attack. He claimed that the FIR leading to his arrest was based on a politically motivated complaint filed by a woman linked to a political worker and that he only learnt about the case through social media.
He questioned the basis of his detention and demanded that police present evidence to support the allegations against him. “I have not made any objectionable or illegal statement,” he claimed, adding that despite threats to his life, no adequate protection had been provided to him.
NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule criticised the arrest and said it raised serious questions over the functioning of the state home department. In a statement posted on X, Sule linked the arrest to the deteriorating law and order situation in Maharashtra and alleged that while serious offenders remain free, political activists are being targeted.
Pawar also condemned the arrest, alleging misuse of police machinery against opposition voices. “The government is deliberately targeting people with opposing views. The police machinery appears to be working entirely for the government,” the MLA said after meeting officials at Wagholi Police Station along with Shinde. He alleged that the action is selectively taken against opposition leaders while no cases are registered when historical and social icons such as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Mahatma Phule, Savitribai Phule, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and Sant Tukaram Maharaj are insulted.
Pawar said that his party would continue its protest against what he described as discriminatory action and stands firmly behind Lawande.
