An FIR has been registered against alleged workers of the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for thrashing a government pleader (lawyer) in Baramati after a road rage incident, police said on Friday.
According to the police, since the lawyer belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, the FIR has been registered under various sections, including the SC and ST Act, at Baramati Police Station.
Pune Rural Police SP Pankaj Deshmukh said, "After receiving a complaint from the victim, we have registered an FIR against 17 people (2 identified and 15 unidentified) for beating him in a road rage case. We have also received a cross-complaint from the other side. The process of registering the FIR is underway. Further investigation is underway." Two identified accused are Suresh Gosavi and Amol Chowghule; 15 others are unidentified, the police said.
The 35-year-old victim identified as Ajit Chandrakant Bansode, who works as a lawyer in a local court in Baramati, said, "Today morning while I was travelling from my office to court, a car dashed my car from behind. I saw these people who were going for an election campaign for a political party and when I asked them how they were driving the car, they came out of their car and started abusing me. When I told them that I was a lawyer and they could not talk to me like that, they started beating me. They called some people from nearby Kanheri village to beat me and then they fled. After this, I went to the local police station to register a complaint against them."
In a complaint filed with the police, Bansode alleged that one of the women from that group who came out of the car told me that she is the sarpanch of Kanheri village and they are going for the election campaign of Supriya Sule.
He further alleged that another woman threatened him, saying, "We will see you" (ham tujhe dekh lenge).
"Another woman from the group said she was the daughter-in-law of Suresh Gosavi and held my collar and started beating me. They also took ₹5,000 cash from my car," Bansode said.
Further investigation into the matter is underway.
