He was chased, abused, assaulted by some 15 MLAs and threatened with more dire consequences. That’s what a witness to the thrashing of traffic police sub-inspector Sachin Suryawanshi on March 19 on the premises of the Vidhan Bhavan has told the police, which filed a charge sheet in the case on Friday.
The Mumbai crime branch’s charge sheet, which runs into 150-odd pages, includes the statements of more than a dozen police officers who have testified against MLAs Ram Kadam from the MNS and Kshitij Thakur from Bahujan Vikas Aghadi for assaulting Suryawanshi, along with about 15 others.
Kadam and Thakur were slapped with several charges, including sections 322 (assaulting and abusing a public servant) and 143 (unlawful assembly) of the ipc. The charge sheet names about 15 MLAs as wanted in the case.
Devram Burud, a 52-year-old police constable who was on duty at the assembly on that day, has claimed that he heard someone “running for his life”. In his statement, he said he had heard of the argument that broke out between Suryawanshi and Thakur on March 18 after the MLA was slapped with a fine for speeding on the Bandra-Worli sea link, but assumed that the issue had been sorted out. “But, on March 19 [at the assembly], I heard someone screaming and pleading... I ran to the woman viewers’ gallery, I noticed that MLA Ram Kadam, along with a group of about 15 MLAs, was assaulting and abusing Suryawanshi.”
As Suryawanshi pleaded for mercy, Kadam allegedly kept pounding his face.
The MNS MLA, said Burud, then warned that he’d ensure that the cop will not be able to work in the state again and even threatened to have him killed.
Another witness, police officer Mukesh Palvi, has claimed that he saw both Kadam and Thakur assaulting the cop. While “Kadam punched the officer in the face, Thakur kicked and abused him,” reads his statement.
The two MLAs, who are under suspension, were arrested and later let out on bail. Recently, a panel appointed by the assembly to look into the suspensions of five MLAs involved in the attack had hinted at a lack of proof against at least three of them. It had also suggested that Suryawanshi could have aggravated the situation by using strong language.
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