E-Paper
Police drop case against ink throwers; revoke 11 suspensions
The Pimpri-Chinchwad police swiftly swung into action a day after minister Patil tendered an apology and said that he did not want to pursue the case any further
The Pimpri-Chinchwad Police have initiated the process of dropping Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 307 (Murderous attempt) against the three accused arrested in connection with the case of ink throwing on Maharashtra minister Chandrakant Patil in Chinchwad on December 10. In addition, the police have begun the process of revoking the suspensions of 11 police personnel for dereliction of duty while protecting the minister.
Pimpri-Chinchwad police commissioner Ankush Shinde commented on the matter, saying, “We have initiated the legal process to drop section IPC section 307 against the accused, while other sections will remain in the case. At the same time, the process of rescinding the suspensions of 11 police officers has begun.”
The Pimpri-Chinchwad police swiftly swung into action a day after minister Patil tendered an apology and said that he did not want to pursue the case any further.
A day after the incident, Shinde had given orders to suspend police inspector (PI) Satish Nandorkar; sub-inspectors (SI) Pradeepsingh Sisode and Ganesh Mane; assistant sub-inspectors (ASI) Bhausaheb Sarode and Deepak Kharat; constable Pramod Vetal, naiks Deva Shivaji and Sagar Avsare; women police constables Kanchan Ghawale and Priyanka Gujar.
The three arrested in connection with the ink-throwing case have been identified as Manoj Gharbade, Dhananjay Ijjgaj and Vijay Ovhal, while a Pimpri-Chinchwad-based correspondent for a Marathi television channel was detained and released.
The three suspects, according to police officials, are associated with Samata Sainik Dal, an organisation founded by Ambedkar in 1924 and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, a political party founded by Prakash Ambedkar in 2018.
Apart from section 307, cops had invoked section 120b (criminal conspiracy), 355 (assault to dishonour), 500 (defamation) and 34 (acts carried out by several persons with common intention) against four persons.
Earlier on Monday, apologising to the general masses, Patil said “I don’t have complaints against anybody. Those arrested for throwing ink on me must be released and the suspension of the officers must be revoked. Also, the legal action against the journalist who is being investigated by the police must be withdrawn. I don’t have any grudges against the person who threw ink on me. This must end and it should be curtains down on the issue.”
