Shocked family of girl shot in Pune violence scoffs at 'netas'

The shell-shocked families and relatives of one of the deceased, Kantabai Ankush Thakar (45), refused to take the body of the deceased from Sassoon General Hospital. The bodies of those who died in the police firing were brought to the hospital in the afternoon for autopsy.

An emotional younger brother of Kantabai, Shivaji Ghare, demanded the arrest of those responsible for his sister’s untimely death. “My sister was not associated with any political party. Yet she died in the cross-fire. The bullet hit her chest,” claimed the aggrieved brother.

He asked Eknath Khadse (leader of the opposition in the state legislative assembly) and Neelam Gorhe (Shiv Sena leader) — who were present in the hospital — where they were when the police opened fire. “None of you were there when my sister was shot. We don’t need your sympathies,” Ghare told the leaders.

Gorhe described the police action as inhuman and Khadse demanded a judicial probe into the incident. Shiv Sena MP of Maval constituency, Gajanan Babar, demanded that a criminal case be filed against the Pune Rural superintendent of police, Sandeep Karnik.