A seven-member committee of the Maharashtra Assembly on Monday began the probe into the incident of MLAs assaulting assistant police inspector Sachin Suryawanshi on the Vidhan Bhavan premises last month.
Apart from summoning Mr. Suryawanshi, the committee heard the two accused MLAs, Ram Kadam of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and Kshitij Thakur of the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi. Chief Security Officer of the Vidhan Bhavan Shivaji Bodke and representatives of Samarth Security, the private company in charge of the CCTVs, were also examined.
The entire episode of MLAs beating up the policeman is believed to have been recorded on the CCTV and the committee will view the tapes on Tuesday. The other MLAs alleged to have assaulted the policeman, Jayprakash Rawal of the BJP, Rajan Salvi of the Shiv Sena and Pradeep Jaiswal will be called on Tuesday.
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The committee is led by veteran MLA Ganpatrao Deshmukh of the Peasants and Workers Party and is expected to give a report by next week.
Mr. Suryawanshi had given a speeding ticket to Mr. Thakur, on March 18 on the Bandra-Worli sealink. Mr. Thakur contended that the policeman had behaved rudely and started taping the entire face-off. He brought up the matter with Deputy Chairperson of the Legislative Council Vasant Davkhare who had called the police official to meet him and explain on March 19.
However, Mr. Thakur, Mr. Kadam and others allegedly beat up Mr. Suryawanshi on the Vidhan Bhavan premises. The Speaker suspended five MLAs till the year-end for their unruly behaviour and Mr. Thakur and Mr. Kadam were arrested and later released on bail after Mr. Suryawanshi filed a complaint of assault.
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