Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) members stage a protest against Sanjay Raut in Thane.
| Photo Credit: PTI
In Thane, the political turf of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Shiv Sena workers on Thursday staged a protest against Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut for claiming that Mr. Shinde’s son and parliamentarian, Shrikant Shinde, had hired a hitman to kill him.
Eknath Shinde-loyalist and former Thane mayor Meenakshi Shinde, along with other women’s wing workers, brought a masked man with a photo of Mr. Raut on his face in an ambulance, for ‘admission’ in the mental health hospital.
She said that Mr. Raut had lost his mental balance and, therefore, they sought quick treatment for him.
Based on the complaint lodged by Ms. Shinde, Thane’s Kapurbawdi Police registered a case against the Rajya Sabha member under Sections 153 (A) (promoting disharmony between different groups, religions, etc.), 500 (defamation) and other relevant Sections of the Indian Penal Code.
On February 21, Mr. Raut wrote a letter to Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and the Thane City Police, stating that Mr. Shrikant Shinde had given a supari [contract] to Raja Thakur, a Thane-based gangster, to kill him.
Responding to the allegations, Minister Shambhuraj Desai said that Mr. Raut was trying to defame Mr. Shrikant Shinde, and get his security enhanced.
