The Pimpri Chichwad police in Maharashtra's Pune district have suspended three of its officers and seven other personnel in connection with the incident in which ink was thrown at senior Maharashtra minister Chandrakant Patil, a top official said on December 11.
The incident had occurred in Pimpri city on December 10 in apparent protest against minister Mr. Patil's controversial remark about Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and social reformer Mahatma Jyotiba Phule.
"We have suspended seven police personnel and three officers in connection with the incident. All of them were part of the minister's security cover during his visit," Pimpri Chinchwad Police Commissioner Ankush Shinde said.
Three people threw ink at Patil on December 10 evening when he was stepping out of one of the office-bearer's house in Pimpri. Police have detained the trio involved in the act.
The attack on the senior BJP leader came a day after he made a statement in Aurangabad district.
Before the incident of ink throwing, some protesters also tried to show black flags to the minister’s convoy in Pimpri.
Speaking in Marathi at an event in Aurangabad on December 9, Mr. Patil, the Higher and Technical Education Minister, had said that Ambedkar and Phule did not seek government grants for running educational institutions, they "begged" people to gather funds for starting schools and colleges.
The use of the word "begged" stirred up a controversy.
After the attack, Mr. Patil requested state Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis not to take action against any police officer or personnel for security lapse. He had also said that his statement was misconstrued.
He also appealed to BJP workers to follow state unit president Chandrashekhar Bawankule’s instructions about how they should react, and not to take the law into their hands.
Speaking in Nagpur, Mr. Fadnavis said the incident in Pimpri was very unfortunate. “Even if Mr. Patil used the wrong word, one should try to understand what he meant,“ he told reporters.
All he was trying to convey was that people such as Dr. Ambedkar or educationist Bhaurao Patil did not take money from the government to run educational institutes, the BJP leader said.
