“I am scared because my parents are under immense pressure … I just want to get rid of everything,” says Right to Information activist Arun Mane of Pune.
Mr. Mane, who registered a police complaint after he was attacked by an unknown assailant on Sunday, withdrew his complaint on Tuesday.
In the affidavit given to the Maval taluk tahsildar, Mr. Mane said two of his complaints — about being threatened and attacked — were false. “None of these incidents happened in reality. I am suffering from mental imbalance, which led me to file the complaints,” is what the affidavit says, according to Pune Rural Superintendent of Police Pratap Dighavkar.
On Sunday, Mr. Mane complained that he was attacked in the godown of his shoe shop early in the morning. Earlier, on December 28, 2010 he complained of having received threats, after which the local police granted him protection. Mr. Mane was following up on the applications filed by the slain RTI activist, Satish Shetty. Shetty was murdered on January 13, 2010. However, the police claim to have found ‘circumstantial evidence' to show that Mr. Mane's allegation of having been attacked was false. “In both cases, there were no eyewitnesses. His servant, who had gone to fetch a newspaper while he was attacked, didn't hear any commotion.” There was no indication of a scuffle, as claimed by Mane, having taken place in the godown, which is barely 3X3 feet, Mr. Dighavkar told journalists here. The forensic report also showed that the wounds on Mr. Mane's body were “self inflicted.” “The report states the wounds and the cut marks on his shirt do not coordinate.”
Mr. Dighavkar said the forensic report came first, after which Mr. Mane told the police that he would like to take back his complaint.
