A Shiv Sena MLC and the party chief Uddhav Thackeray's personal assistant, who were booked by the police for ‘hatching a conspiracy to create law and order problems in Pune' during Tuesday's bandh, were granted bail on Thursday.
Advocate Shrikant Shivade, who appeared for Neelam Gorhe and Milind Narvekar, said they had been booked under Sections 34 (common intention), 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, of which Section 153 is bailable.
“There is no need to call for the investigation officer or the assistant public prosecutor,” Mr. Shivade stated in court. Judicial First Class Magistrate R.L. Wankhede granted the duo bail on a personal bond of Rs. 15,000 each.
The two were booked on the basis of phone conversations tapped by the Special Branch of the Pune police. According to the First Information Report, at 11.56 p.m. on Monday (December 27), Mr. Narvekar gave elaborate instructions to the MLC, Ms. Gorhe, and a plan was hatched to ensure that the bandh turned violent.
During the bandh, called in protest against the removal of Dadoji Konddeo's statue from the historic monument, Lal Mahal, 53 buses were destroyed in the city.
Police sources said that after a tip-off that the Sena was planning to create problems, their phones were tapped.
However, the BJP, which also supported the bandh, condemned the “illegal phone tapping.” Twelve BJP and two Sena corporators, who were booked for creating havoc at the Pune Municipal Corporation on Monday, were also released on bail.
