Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
Four days after ruckus over Shivaji film, Awhad arrested
10 party workers also held; Awhad said his arrest is an abuse of power and he will not plead guilty to what he has not done
THANE: Former housing minister Jitendra Awhad and the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Thane president Anand Paranjpe were among the 11 people arrested on Friday for allegedly cancelling the latenight show of a Marathi movie on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at a city multiplex on November 7. They will be produced in a court on Saturday.
Calling it a political vendetta, more than 200 NCP workers gathered outside Vartak Nagar police station. They even clashed with the personnel posted outside the station and tried to stop the car of the deputy commissioner of police from exiting the compound. On Monday night, Awhad along with hundreds of party workers barged into a mall screening Har Har Mahadev and forcefully stopped the show, alleging that the film had distorted the history of Chatrapati Shivaji to create a political hype. The next day, the Vartak Nagar police registered an FIR, based on a complaint filed by one Parikshit Durve, against the NCP MLA and 100 other party workers for voluntarily causing hurt and showing criminal force.
Awhad was called to the police station on Friday and was later arrested.
Durve, who was at the theatre when the incident occurred, could not be reached for a comment.
Ruta Awhad, wife of the NCP MLA, who was present outside the police station, called the arrest a political vendetta. “The movie goers who were on the spot were not seen anywhere later. The complainant was also not ready to approach the police and said it was a misunderstanding. But later he filed a complaint after being forced by other political parties.”
Awhad himself tweeted about the arrest. “Today at around 1 o’clock in the afternoon I was called by the Senior Police Inspector of Vartak Nagar Police Station who said I will send a man to serve the notice or else you should come to the police station. I was going to Mumbai. I said, I will come to the police station and then I will go to Mumbai. When I went to the police station, they engaged me in talks. Then DCP Rathod came to the police station. His eyes and face showed restlessness. Desperation was visible. He respectfully said, I can’t do anything. Orders have come from above. You are to be arrested. This is abuse of power. I am ready to give a fight, but I will not plead guilty to what I have not done. (sic)”