Bombay High Court stays probe in Vidhan Bhavan scuffle between NCP (SP) and BJP supporters

NCP (SP) MLA Jitendra Awhad’s supporter Nitin Deshmukh was booked over the July 17 incident where supporters of BJP legislator Gopichand Padalkar and Awhad came to blows over comments made against each other in the Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan.

By: Express News Service

October 2, 2025 04:57 PM IST

2 min read

Among other grounds, Deshmukh claimed there was no evidence of unlawful assembly with a common object.

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the Mumbai Police to halt further investigation into a scuffle that took place between supporters of the ruling BJP and the Opposition NCP(SP) inside the premises of the Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan in July.

A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam A Ankhad passed the order while hearing a plea filed by Nitin Deshmukh, a supporter of NCP (SP) MLA Jitendra Awhad who sought the quashing of the FIR registered against him in connection with the July 17 incident, in which supporters of BJP legislator Gopichand Padalkar and Awhad came to blows over comments made against each other in the legislative complex.

In July, a magistrate court granted bail to Deshmukh and Sarjerao Takle, a supporter of Padalkar.

Deshmukh, through advocate Rahul Arote, argued that the case was “politically motivated” and had “baseless” charges. Pending a hearing on his plea, he sought a stay on the investigation.

The plea claimed that while the charges claimed that Deshmukh was involved in manhandling police officers who intervened, there was no mention of assault or obstruction of duty to justify charges brought under section 132 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from the discharge of his/her duty) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Among other grounds, Deshmukh claimed there was no evidence of unlawful assembly with a common object. The fact that he had entered a high-security state legislature area with a valid entry pass undermined the charges that he had intended to obstruct officials, his counsel further argued.

“Having regard to the allegations made in the First Information Report, we hereby direct the Investigating Officer not to carry out further investigation in respect of the crime registered on July 18, 2025, at Marine Drive police station till the disposal of this writ petition,” the high court noted in its order and posted further hearing to November 12.

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