Jeevan Ghogare, a member of Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), was allegedly abducted and assaulted in Maharashtra’s Nanded over a ₹2 crore financial dispute. Police have arrested seven people in connection with the case, officials said.
On Tuesday, police said the complainant was targeted on Monday afternoon in the Dnyaneshwar Nagar area while he was travelling in his Innova car, news agency PTI reported.
How the NCP leader was ‘abducted’
A group of people travelling in a Scorpio allegedly intercepted his Innova car, hurled stones at it, and then dragged him into their SUV, he claimed.
After receiving information about the incident, police launched a search operation. However, Ghogare later contacted the police and said that he had not been abducted and had gone voluntarily for business reasons.
Suspecting that something was amiss, the police continued their search, the PTI report mentioned.
Ghogare was eventually found injured and abandoned. He told police that the abductors had threatened him at gunpoint and forced him to make the false claim that he was safe.
Who ‘abducted’ Jeevan Ghogare?
The former leader of the opposition in the Nanded Municipal Corporation has accused MLA Prataprao Chikhalikar, who represents the Loha assembly seat in the district, of planning the attack.
{{/usCountry}}The former leader of the opposition in the Nanded Municipal Corporation has accused MLA Prataprao Chikhalikar, who represents the Loha assembly seat in the district, of planning the attack.
{{/usCountry}}Ghogare said the sitting MLA and a former legislator were responsible for the incident.
He claimed it was linked to long-running financial disputes and political rivalry. He also alleged that he and his family had been receiving death threats from these leaders.
Chikhalikar, who also belongs to the NCP, rejected the allegation and described it as a political conspiracy.
“This is a political conspiracy. I have been occupied with election duties and counting for the past three days and am currently attending the Malegaon fair. I only learned of this through the media. I am confident the police investigation will bring the truth to light,” he said.
An official told PTI that seven people have been arrested in connection with Ghogare’s abduction and assault. They have been identified as Shubham Sunewad, Rahul Dasarwad, Kaustubh Ranveer, Vivek Suryawanshi, Madhav Waghmare, Mohammad Afroz and Devanand Bhole.
With inputs from agencies