MUMBAI: Rebel Shiv Sena MLA Sada Sarvankar allegedly fired a round during a clash between workers of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s camp early on Sunday, following which police registered a case against him, his son and some others, officials said.
Sarvankar, who represents the Mahim Assembly constituency, however, denied opening fire and claimed his rivals were trying to malign him.
He also said if police call him for questioning, he will cooperate with them.
Police also arrested five Sena workers from the Thackeray camp, who were later released on bail, they said.
The workers from both the sides first clashed in Prabhadevi area of central Mumbai shortly after Saturday midnight before indulging in a scuffle outside the Dadar police station some time later, where Sarvankar fired the round from a weapon, police said.
Both the groups lodged complaints against each other, following which the police registered First Information Reports (FIRs) against 10 to 20 members of both sides, they said.
The incident took place around 12.30 am in New Prabhadevi area, in which Sena functionary Santosh Talavane was allegedly attacked by Mahesh Sawant and 30 others, police said.
Talavane is part of the Shinde camp, while Sawant belongs to the Thackeray-led Sena.
The workers from both the camps again came face to face outside Dadar police station.
MLA Sarvankar, who was present there, fired one round, a police official confirmed.
After that, the legislator, his son Samadhan Sarvankar, Telavane and others were booked under sections of the Arms Act.
They were also charged for rioting and under other relevant sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC), he said.
As the rival groups lodged complaints against each other, the Dadar police registered two FIRs, including one against Sarvankar, an official said.
“There was a scuffle between two groups in Dadar in the early hours. Initially, one FIR was registered. Now, another FIR has also been registered under sections of rioting and the Arms Act,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Pranay Ashok said.
Based on a complaint by Talavane, the Dadar police arrested five Sena workers, including Mahesh Sawant, another official said, adding that they were later released on bail.
The case against them was registered under various Indian Penal Code Sections including 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation), he said.
Following their release, Sawant and other party workers went to ‘Matoshree’ to meet Uddhav Thackeray.
Party leader Aaditya Thackeray, who was present there, said Shiv Sainiks were the party’s “Brahmastra”, a reference to the newly-released movie.
“In the Prabhadevi incident, Shiv Sainiks showed they were the party’s ‘Brahmastra’ and no one is bigger than them,” he said.
The Shiv Sainiks sat next to Uddhav Thackeray, while Aaditya sat on the ground with some others.
“Shiv Sainiks are the real strength of the party and Shiv Sena is a family,” he said.
Shinde camp’s spokesman Naresh Mhaske later took a dig at Uddhav Thackeray saying that he found time from his afternoon nap to meet the persons released on bail following their arrest for attacking the member of the rival faction, and take a picture with them.
Earlier in the day, Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant, who supports former chief minister Thackeray, demanded action against Sarvankar under the Arms act for allegedly firing in public at the clash spot.
After meeting officials at Dadar police station following the arrest of workers of the Uddhav Thackeray faction, the parliamentarian said if those arrested are not released and action is not against Sarvankar, his party will take to streets and people will know which is the “real Shiv Sena”.
He said after the Ganesh immersion, there was an argument and workers of the two Sena factions clashed around midnight.
Arvind Sawant alleged that Sarvankar verbally abused the rival group and fired twice in public.
The Sena spokesperson also claimed that police were a witness to it.
“When our workers went to Dadar police station to lodge a complaint, it was not accepted,” he said.
Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Council Ambadas Danve, who was present with Arvind Sawant at Dadar police station, told reporters that one-sided action by police cannot be tolerated.
“If both sides are at fault, action should be against both. We lodge a complaint, it is ignored. But when the other side complaints, our people are arrested at night,” Danve said.
Kiran Pawaskar, the spokesman of the Shinde group, rejected the allegations against Sarvankar.
“Sarvankar has Y category security and it is impossible that he will fire in public,” Pawaskar said, adding that such allegations were “childish”.
Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray has dared the rebel MLAs who have joined the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to resign and face elections.
Speaking at an event, the Worli MLA hinted that housing, quality education, healthcare, roads, and public transport will be the “focus areas” of Shiv Sena in the upcoming elections to the Mumbai civic body.
“Why did you backstab us when we gave you everything and why have you not resigned yet to face elections as it happens in a democracy,” the former state minister asked while speaking at the CNN-News18 Town Hall on Saturday night.
Aaditya dismissed claims by the dissidents that he and his father Uddhav Thackeray, who was the chief minister in the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi government, remained inaccessible.
He also denied that Shiv Sena’s succession plan was meant to favour him.
“I have always been around. I was allotted the portfolios (Environment and Tourism) that no one opts for otherwise. But when you have ambitions and pressure that can’t be spoken of, you jump the ship,” he said.
The rebellion by Shinde and 39 of the 55 MLAs of Shiv Sena led to the collapse of the tripartite MVA government led by Uddhav Thackeray in June this year.
“They (rebels) shifted the goalpost left, right and centre. They blamed our allies (NCP and Congress) for ruining their political fortunes. They spoke about Hindutva. Tomorrow they may blame me for wearing a blue shirt every single day,” Aaditya said.
He challenged the Shinde camp and the Bharatiya Janat Party (BJP), which is part of the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government, to face elections immediately.
“Let’s face the BMC election now, no problem. Resign and face elections. We will accept the public mandate. Mumbaikars know what we have done for the city during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
The BJP has launched an aggressive campaign for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Council (BMC) elections against the Shiv Sena, which has been ruling the civic body for over two decades.
Listing the works done by the then Uddhav Thackeray government, Aaditya said: “The Hindmata region and Gandhi market area in Mumbai did not flood this year (in monsoon) due to the rainwater harvesting and percolation pits created by us. This is a proud moment for the BMC as well”.
He said Mumbai’s progress rate must not be compared with Shanghai or Singapore.
Speaking about the main issues in Mumbai, he said, “Cities are growth centres and it is up to us to promote the ease of living and define what urbanism is. I think our main focus areas would be housing, quality education, healthcare, roads and public transport”.
Aaditya also spoke about how Shiv Sena tackled civic issues when in power.
“I used to hold meetings every week with 16 different agencies for the betterment of schools, parks, and the coastal road. In my opinion, either make a single authority for Mumbai or simply just get together and take swift action,” he added.
Speaking about Shiv Sena’s opposition to the construction of the metro car shed in Mumbai’s green lung Aarey Colony, Aaditya said the issue is not just about a particular land or trees.
“It is a living, breathing forest. We only stopped the work at Aarey. There are some faults with that line. Rs 10,000 crore escalation in cost was assessed before December 2019 (the MVA government came to power in November 2019),” he said.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had alleged the previous MVA government’s move to stop work at the Aarey Colony had led to the escalation of cost.
Reversing the previous government’s decision to shift the metro car shed to suburban Kanjurmarg and restoring it to the Aarey Colony was one of the first decisions taken by the new government.
