PUNE: The Shivajinagar police on Saturday night registered a case of unlawful assembly, rioting, and mischief against city BJP president Jagdish Mulik, a few sitting corporators and 300 party workers for gathering illegally at PMC, sloganeering and damaging the police’s equipment such as shields, helmets, nameplates, walkie-talkies, sticks, on Friday afternoon.
Sub-inspector Shivraj Hole of Samarth police lodged a complaint in this regard with the Shivajinagar police station. The police had deployed a strong bandobast on the premises of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) headquarters on Friday afternoon after the city BJP unit invited party leader Kirit Somaiya to felicitate him.
According to the police, the BJP members had gathered in large numbers in and around the PMC building on the occasion.
Somaiya was allegedly manhandled by Shiv Sena workers on the stairs of the PMC headquarters on the afternoon of February 4. On February 5, BJP worker Prashant Dattu Late (30) of Wadar Wadi lodged a complaint against the Shiv Sena workers with the Shivajinagar police for rioting and manhandling Somaiya. The police had arrested 11 Shiv Sena workers in the case who were later released on bail.
“To avert any untoward incident, we had kept a strong bandobast at the PMC headquarters. Owing to the Covid situation, the prohibitory orders are still in place (gathering of five persons or more not allowed) but the BJP office-bearers and workers neglected the orders and gathered in large numbers,” said senior police inspector Anita More of the Shivajinagar police station.
