Thackeray case adjourned to June

Bhujbal had filed the defamation suit against the trio, on September 4, 1997, accusing them of publishing defamatory reports against him in Saamna on July 23 and 24, 1997. The reports had said that Bhujbal had masterminded the desecration of Ambedkar’s statue at Ramabhai Nagar in Ghatkopar. The incident had led to the shooting down of 11 Dalits by the police on July 11.

The Saamnareports, it has been claimed, were based on an affidavit filed by one Rajendra Mihilal Agarwal from Shahade in Dhule. Agarwal had claimed to be a close associate of Bhujbal and had accused the latter of asking him to defile the Ambedkar statue at Ramabhai Nagar a day before the actual desecration took place. Agarwal said he refused to execute Bhujbal’s orders and returned from Mumbai to Shahade, only to read in the newspapers a day later that someone else had carried out the job.

According to Bhujbal, while other newspapers reported the contents of Agarwal’s affidavit, Saamna chose to incite the passions of Dalits against him. The case filed in September had been adjourned to October 20, then to November 7 and later to December 4, when Bal Thackeray, Sanjay Raut and Subash Desai appeared in the court and were granted bail. The case was then adjourned the case to January 18.