‘Culture saviours’ attack trekkers at Lohagad fort

According to the Lonavala rural police report, the incident took place when Ritesh Ganesh Jaskar (24), a Pune-based M.Tech student, and his friends, which included women, visited the Lohagad Fort on the weekend.

A group of trekkers were allegedly manhandled by a group of self-proclaimed ‘fort lovers’ at Lohagad fort near Lonavala on September 17.

Lohagad fort is the site of the latest attack by the ‘fort lovers’ moral police, self-proclaimed preservers of culture. (HT PHOTO)

The ‘fort lovers’ are mostly local residents and claim they are followers of Chhatrapati Shivaji working to preserve the “sanctity” and “culture” of forts in the region

According to the Lonavala rural police report, the incident took place when Ritesh Ganesh Jaskar (24), a Pune-based M.Tech student, and his friends, which included women, visited the Lohagad Fort on the weekend.

According to the complaint filed by Ritesh, four people attacked his group.He stated that the attackers thought they were drunk and under the influence of drugs. When they tried to convince the attackers they were safe and harmless, the attacking group threatened to take pictures of the females and upload them on social media sites.

“The people who attacked me even called my family and told them that we were indulging in obscene acts by consuming liquor,” Jaskar told the police.

According to the complaint, the attacking group warned the victims not to file a police complaint.

“We have registered a case of rioting and the investigation is on,” Sadhana Patil,assistant police inspector, Lonavala.