Black oil attack on Sambhaji Brigade leader: BJP worker, aide arrested after invoking non-bailable sections

Five others who have been booked in the case are yet to be arrested. They have been identified as Kiran Salunkhe, Bhaiyya Dhane, Bhavaneshwar Shirgire from Indapur and Krushna Kshirsagar, Akshay Chavan and Babu Bihari, of Baramati in Pune district.

As per the First Information Report (FIR), Gaikwad was attacked when he came to Akkalkot city in Solapur district for attending a function to felicitate Janmejay Raje Bhosale on Sunday. “As Gaikwad was walking towards the hall, all of a sudden, the activists of Shivdharma Foundation intercepted him, poured black oil on Gaikwad’s head, blackened his face and also manhandled him,” the FIR stated.

The Shivdharma Foundation had been opposing the name of the organisation ‘Sambhaji Brigade’, claiming that it made a singular reference of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, the legendary king known for his sacrifices. The foundation demanded that Sambhaji Brigade be renamed ‘Dharmaveer Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Brigade’.

The police had initially booked the accused under BNS sections 115(2), 189(2), 191(2), 190, 324(4), which are bailable, against the accused. All these sections being bailable, the police did not arrest the accused, but took preventive action against them as per the law.

Sambhaji Bhosale, an office-bearer of Sambhaji Brigade, had filed a complaint against Kate and his six aides at the Akkalkot North police station.

“We recorded the statement of the complainant victim and based on it sections 118 (2), 352 of BNS were added in the case,” sub-division police officer (Akkalkot) Vilas Yamavar said.

As these sections are non-bailable, the police arrested Kate and Shirpure and produced them before a court in Solapur. The court remanded the duo to police custody for two days for further investigation. The police said action would be taken against the other five accused.

Gaikwad claimed the attack was a part of a conspiracy to kill him and compared the attackers with the killers of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar, communist leader Govind Pansare, M M Kalburgi and journalist Gauri Lankesh.