FARMER HIT BY MANTRALAYA GUARDS: CM ORDERS PROBE

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday ordered a high-level probe after a farmer was allegedly beaten up by security guards at Mantralaya, the state headquarters, on Thursday.

Fadnavis, while making a statement in the lower house on Friday, said the guards did not thrash the farmer instead he bit one of the policemen on duty. He added that after the farmer demanded compensation after loss of his shade net in unseasonal rainfall in 2015, the agriculture department extended an offer of 50% grant, but he did not avail the facility and refused to pay 25% of the expenditure.

Rameshwar Bhusare, 32, a farmer from a village in Kannad taluka in Aurangabad, had alleged that he was thrashed by the security on duty in the Mantralaya on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Opposition leaders alleged that the police tried to suppress the case and wrongly implicate the farmer. ongress and NCP leaders visited Marine Lines police station and demanded an explanation for delay in registering a case. The leaders also alleged that police tried to file false case of attempt to commit suicide. The farmer also claimed that the guards, while taking him to the police station from the Mantralaya, tried to strangulate him.

Meanwhile, police have denied the allegations and said the farmer bit one of the guards when he was asked to leave.