A non-cognisable offence has been registered against BJP leader Ganesh Bidkar and three other party workers after volunteers of the Congress approached the police alleging distribution of money to buy votes in Mangalwar Peth on Sunday afternoon.
Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders have also shared videos that purportedly show Bidkar and other BJP workers at an office-like indoor space being questioned by Congress workers. The purported video shows Bidkar trying to snatch the camera from the Congress worker shooting the video.
Bidkar has denied all allegations. Speaking to mediapersons, he said it was the Congress workers who were “assaulting and abusing men and women”. He said that what is seen in the video is him trying to save a person recording the video from falling down.
A non-cognisable offence has been registered regarding the incident at Samarth Police Station against Bidkar, Mayur Chava, Naim Shaikh, and Bala Shaikh under section 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The complaint in this regard was filed by Faiyaz Kasam Shaikh, a former Youth Congress President for Cantonment Assembly Constituency.
In his statement to police, Shaikh said, “At about 3 pm on Sunday, I got to know that BJP workers were distributing money to voters at Ayesha Complex (in Mangalwar Peth). I reached the spot with my friend Yakush Bashir Shaikh. Here, I saw former BJP corporator Ganesh Bidkar, Mayur Chavan, Naim Shaikh and Bala Shaikh. They had a orange coloured bag which had voters’ slip and cash. When questioned about this, the gathered workers abused us and assaulted us and fled from the spot.”
Congress leader Aravind Shinde said that despite having video evidence, the police were reluctant to take action against the alleged accused.
The Kasba Peth assembly constituency recorded 50.07 per cent polling turnout with the contest being a straight fight between Congress’s Ravindra Dhangekar and Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Hemant Rasane.