Shetty fights off assailant

On Sunday,at 8.15 am,Mane was waiting for his employee who had gone to fetch a newspaper when the attacker entered the shop. Abusing and threatening Mane,he attacked him on the forehead with a sharp weapon. Even as took the blow,Mane grappled with hm and pinned him to the wall. Encountering the resistance,the assailant fled with the weapon.

“As soon as he entered the shop,he told me I was going too far… and that he had come to put an end to my life. I resisted his attempt to kill me,” said Mane.

Mane was admitted to Talegaon general hospital where doctors said he was out of danger. He received two stitches on the forehead.

In the afternoon,he was shifted to a private hospital in Somatne Phata.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Shrikrishna Kokate said Mane had not provided them with any clues about the assailant to help them prepare his sketch. “He had made certain applications under RTI which might have ruffled a few feathers. This is one of the angles,besides others,we are looking into,” said Kokate.

Kokate said Mane had been threatened five days back in the same shop during morning hours. “The person who threatened Mane was not the same who attacked him,” he said.

He said the day Mane was threatened,police had provided him 24-hour security. “After two days,Mane had asked police to withdraw the security since he was on a tour to Alibaug. He returned on Saturday evening. We called him up and asked whether we should send our constable to guard him. He said he would let us know in the morning,” said Talegaon police inspector Sanjay Nikam.

Sandeep Shetty,younger brother of Satish Shetty,said,”Mane was the right handman of Satish. I knew he was pursuing the cases my brother tried to expose.”

Condemning the attack,he said it was an attempt to cow down RTI campaigners.

RTI activist Manav Kamble said the attack yeta again reflects the fact that RTI activists are not safe in Pune. “It also raises the conspiracy theory. How come Mane was attacked only when his security was withdrawn ? It means the message had reached the attackers…The police need to find out who alerted the attackers,” Kamble said.

Police inspector Sanjay Nikam said the 24-hour security Mane was provided as soon as he complained and it would continue in future.