The police have claimed that the Shiv Sena leaders, Neelam Gorhe and Milind Narvekar, hatched a plot to make sure that the bandh declared by the party on Tuesday in Pune took a violent turn.
Tapped telephone conversations between the duo has made this allegation clear, according to the Special Branch of the Police. The police registered a case against MLC Ms.. Neelam Gorhe and Mr. Narvekar. A copy of the FIR has been given to Judicial Magistrate First Class (JFMC) R L Wankhede.
The duo has been booked under the IPC Section 120 (B) for punishment of criminal conspiracy, Section 153 for wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot and Section 34 for committing a criminal act in furtherance of the common intention.
According to the transcript attached to the FIR, in a conversation with Ms. Gorhe held at 11.56 p.m., Mr. Narvekar has said, “200 to 300 people should be deployed. Buses should be destroyed at Shivajinagar bus stand and Swargate bus stand. Destroy five State transport buses. That way traffic will be disturbed. Block the Mumbai Pune express way. Put two buses and two trucks on fire. In Shivajinagar, select a bus, burn it and make sure the media knows about it. But none of this should look orchestrated.” The Rampage was allegedly ‘ordered' from 6 am onwards, although the Bandh was declared from 8 am., police said.
In Tuesday's Bandh, called in protest against the removal of Dadoji Konddeo's statue from Lal Mahal, 53 buses were destroyed in the city.
Ms. Gorhe, who is usually known to be media savvy, did not answer any phone calls, neither did she talk to television cameras. According to the police, the duo could be arrested anytime. However, other Shiv Sena leaders refuted the allegation. Stating that the calls have been fabricated, Sham Deshpande said, “We will give answers in the court. This is the Nationalist Congress Party's conspiracy. We maintain that the bandh was peaceful.”
Meanwhile, Hingoli in Maharashtra observed a Maharashtra Navnirman Sena sponsored bandh on Wednesday. . In Sangli and Miraj districts, the Shiv Sena and the BJP observed a bandh.
