A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA, and two others have been arrested for allegedly shooting and injuring a leader of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena inside the cabin of a senior inspector of Hill Line Police station in Thane district of Maharashtra over a land dispute late on Friday night.
Kalyan MLA Ganpat Gaikwad of BJP opened fire on Mahesh Gaikwad, the Shiv Sena chief of Kalyan and also a former corporator, in Ulhasnagar area on Friday night, Additional Commissioner of Police Dattatrya Shinde told reporters.
Ganpat Gaikwad will be produced before court on Saturday.
Mahesh Gaikwad was rushed to a local hospital before being shifted to a private medical facility in Thane.
The Additional CP said that Ganpat Gaikwad’s son had come to the police station to lodge a complaint in connection with a land dispute when Mahesh Gaikwad arrived along with his men. Later, Ganpat Gaikwad also reached the police station. Soon, an altercation broke out between the two following which Ganpat Gaikwad allegedly fired shots at Mahesh Gaikwad inside the police cabin.
Ganpat Gaikwad later told a news channel that his son was being beaten at the police station and claimed to fire five rounds.
“Yes, I shot (him) myself. I have no regrets. If my son is being beaten in front of the police inside the police station, what will I do,” asked Ganpat Gaikwad while talking to a news channel, as quoted by PTI.
“If Eknath Shinde is the chief minister, only criminals will be born in Maharashtra. He has made a good person like me a criminal today,” he said.
All of them have been booked under Indian Penal Code sections, including 307 (attempt to murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy). DCP Sudhakar Pathare said that case has been registered against six people, three of whom has been arrested.
“Search for the other three is underway. Sections of the IPC and Arms Act invoked in the FIR,” he said, as quoted by ANI.
