RTI activist beaten up at MLA’s office
The police have registered a complaint by Kode against the unidentified people who attacked him, as a non-cognizable offence under sections 323 and 506 of the IPC.
An RTI activist was assaulted and beaten up at the office of Vile Parle MLA Krishna Hegde on Monday.
Sanjay Dattaram Kode, who says he has taken up some issues under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, suffered injuries on the neck and was treated at Cooper Hospital. The incident happened on Monday morning.
The police have registered a complaint by Kode against the unidentified people who attacked him, as a non-cognizable offence under sections 323 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Kode claims that he had complained to the civic authorities against the allegedly illegal extension of a milk shop, that even covered up a manhole. “The shop could be shut down any day,” he said. “Hegde called me from the mobile phone of one of his party workers and asked me to come to his office. When I went there I was beaten up by 10-12 men.”
However, the MLA said he did not know Kode, but that some people had approached him with complaints against the man. “They say that Kode has been demanding money from them after they extended their premises and that he threatened to complain to the BMC,” Hegde said. “I do not know either of these people, so what vested interest can I have in the matter?”
The police said they are not clear about the matter that led to the attack, but the indications are that it is a landlord-tenant dispute.
“The tenants live in Santa Cruz. Apparently, both parties were called to Hegde’s office to resolve the issue, but an argument snowballed into a scuffle,” said Shashikant Talegaonkar, senior inspector at Vile Parle police station. “Therefore, we have registered a non-cognizable offence from both parties.”