IT Correspondent
Mumbai, Sept 12:
The Mumbai Police arrested six activists including a Shiv Sena shakha pramukh on allegation of attacking a retired Naval officer, who had shared a cartoon on Whatsapp, that mocked Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray,
in Kandivali East in North Mumbai on Friday.
The victim Madan Sharma (65), shared a satirical cartoon featuring Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who was shown prostrating before the NCP Chief Sharad Pawar and Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Based on a complaint of Sharma, the Shakha pramukh Kamlesh Kadam, Shiv Sainik Sanjay Manjre and others were taken into custody, on charges of attacking him at Lokhandwala Kandivali East Complex. The incident occurred in the Friday morning. The offence under section 325 and other sections of IPC has been registered against the accused at the Samta Nagar Police Station. Sharma’s eye was badly injured in the attack, and was given a medicare at the Shatabdi Hospital.
“My father received a message on WhatsApp which he forwarded. Thereafter, he received many phone calls. Subsequently one of the callers called him out of the complex. When my father went down stairs, he was beaten up. The entire incident has been captured in the CCTV. Later the police personnel came to it house and said that we will have to take him away to safety. However we did not allow him to leave”, Sharma’s daughter Sheela said;
BJP MLA Atul Bhatkalkar shared a video that showed six goons barging inside a residential colony and slapping the victim in the face multiple times. BJP leader and former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis expressed his shock and asked CM Thackeray to stop the ‘gundaraj’. “Extremely sad & shocking incident. Retired Naval Officer got beaten up by goons because of just a Whatsapp forward. Please stop this gundaRaj Hon Uddhav Thackeray ji. We demand strong action and punishment to these goons,” Fadnavis tweeted. BJP leader Kirit Somaiya demanded strong action against the goons or else, he said he will stage a dharna outside the Kandivali East Police Station.
