6 Shiv Sena workers arrested for assaulting 65-year-old retired Navy officer in Mumbai

A group of around eight-10 activists of Shiv Sena party assaulted a 65-year-old retired Navy officer from Kandivli on Friday for sharing a cartoon of chief minister

A group of around eight-10 activists of Shiv Sena party assaulted a 65-year-old retired Navy officer from Kandivli on Friday for sharing a cartoon of chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray on a WhatsApp group. The Samta Nagar police have registered a case of assault and rioting and have arrested six accused.

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The complainant, Madan Kashinath Sharma, who retired from Navy in 1990, is a resident of Thakur Complex in Kandivli (East). In the FIR (HT has a copy) Sharma has stated that on Wednesday he received a photo on a WhatsApp group. “In this photo a cartoon of CM Thackeray is seen doing a namaskar to the photos of Sonia Gandhi and Sharad Pawar. I forwarded the photo in another WhatsApp group,” Sharma said in his statement.

On Friday morning Sharma received a phone call from an unknown person enquiring about him. The person, who identified himself as Kamlesh Kadam, asked him to come down at his society’s gate. When Sharma came down, Kadam and eight-10 other people attacked him outside the society.

“They assaulted me, punched me and kicked me. My right eye sustained injuries,” Sharma said in the complaint.

The police were informed about the incident. “A case of assault and rioting under various sections of Indian Penal Code was registered against Kadam, who is Sena’s local shakha pramukh, and others. Kadam and five others were arrested on Friday night,” said Raju Kasbe, senior inspector of Samta Nagar police station.