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Will send team, says cop on missing report by wife of Sena MLA camping in Surat
Akola district’s civil lines police station has received a missing complaint from Shiv Sena MLA Nitin Deshmukh’s wife and will send a team to Surat 500km away to trace him
The Akola Police on Tuesday said it will send a team of police personnel to Gujarat’s Surat to trace Shiv Sena legislator Nitin Deshmukh after his wife filed a missing complaint with the police about the Balapur lawmaker.
Deshmukh’s wife Pranjal told the police that she apprehends a threat to his life.
Nitin Deshmukh is believed to be among the Shiv Sena legislators who reached Surat early on Tuesday morning along with Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde and has been sequestered in a luxury hotel that is being guarded by hundreds of Gujarat police personnel.
Sena leader Sanjay Raut said the families of nine Sena leaders have filed similar complaints and the police will take strict action on these complaints.
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Bhanupratap Madavi, the in-charge of Civil Lines police station of Akola district said they have received a complaint from Pranjal Deshmukh about the disappearance of her husband, Nitin .
“We are sending a team of police personnel with one officer to Surat,” he said. Gujarat’s Surat is 500km from Akola district.
In her complaint, Deshmukh’s wife Pranjal said her husband Nitin, who is an MLA from Balapur in the Vidarbha region, left Akola on June 16 for Mumbai by Vidarbha Express train, with his personal assistant, Pradip Banarase.
“After reaching Mumbai, both were in touch with me till June 20 evening. I spoke with my husband at 6pm on June 20 and that was the last conversation with him as his mobile number has not been reachable since then,” she said in her complaint and sought the intervention of the police to locate him.
Pranjal continued: “I have been repeatedly trying to contact him since 7pm on June 20 but in vain. He was supposed to return to Akola on June 21. However, neither he returned to Akola nor we could locate him through mobile number,” she added.
There were reports that Deshmukh was taken to a hospital in Surat after he fell ill and that his condition is stable.
Deshmukh, once a trusted lieutenant of the union minister Narayan Rane, left the Shiv Sena and joined the Congress, along with Rane in 2005. However, later he rejoined the Sena.
Deshmukh, a popular Sena leader of Akola, was chairman of the agriculture committee of Akola Zilla Parishad before contesting the 2019 assembly elections from Balapur. He won the election as a Sena candidate, defeating his nearest Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi candidate, Dhairyavardhan Pundkar by around 19,000 votes.
