RTI activist Mahesh Nimbalkar from Dombivli stripped his clothes in Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation’s (KDMC) ward office on March 22 to protest against the civic apathy towards his attackers. 

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At 3 pm on Thursday, Nimbalkar, 40, entered the F-Ward office. He stripped off his clothes, opened the office of Ward Officer Amit Pandit and started a protest accompanied by his wife Dhanashree and mother Malti.  

“Last year on March 22 at 3pm, I was attacked by eight people as I was on my way home to Vishnunagar,” Nimbalkar said.  

He had been following up on the issue of illegal construction of a Jain temple at Kasturi plaza for the last four years. “The civic authorities turned a blind eye, and the construction continued. I was even attacked on March 2017,” he said.

He was seriously injured in the attack with severe head injury, multiple fractures on hands, two surgeries and had to spend 15 days in the hospital.

“Though four people were arrested in this case, four are still roaming free. I took the matter with the cops as well as the civic authorities, but to no avail,” he said.

In protest of the apathy that he has faced from the civic authorities, he started this protest half-naked on Thursday and is determined to stay there till he receives an answer.  

“Till now nobody has come to meet me from the KDMC and I am not going to leave till they give me an answer,” he says.

When we contacted, SR Pawar, deputy commissioner of KDMC, remained silent on the issue and referred the call to Ward Officer Amit Pandit, who remained unavailable.

WHAT LED TO IT

  • RTI activist Mahesh Nimbalkar was attacked on March 22, 2016 for opposing the construction of an illegal Jain temple in Dombivli East.  
  • Nimbalkar had been following up on the issue for four years.  
  • After the attack, Nimbalkar sustained a severe head injury and multiple fractures.