Maharashtra MLAs thrash cop in House

Thakur had moved a breach of privilege notice against Suryawanshi,alleging that the police officer had accosted him on the Bandra Worli sea link on Monday for overspeeding. Thakur claimed Suryawanshi had misbehaved with him even after he paid the fine.

Members cutting across party lines created an uproar and some demanded the officers suspension. Suryawanshi was seated in the visitors gallery when the House was in session on Tuesday. Led by Thakur and Kadam,a group of MLAs,including Jaykumar Raval BJP,Pradip Jaiswal Shiv Sena,then rushed to the visitors gallery on the first floor and beat up the police officer.

Thakur claimed that Suryawanshi made provocative gestures when I raised the matter in Assembly. Some of my colleagues heard him abuse us.

Speaker Dilip Walse-Patil said: I apologise to the people of Maharashtra for the ugly incident. I express my apology to the entire police force in Maharashtra. I want to assure that such incident will not happen again.

Top police officials,including DGP Sanjeev Dayal and police commissioner Satyapal Singh,later held a meeting with Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Home Minister R R Patil. They are reported to have pointed out that if elected members consolidate and physically abuse police officials,it will demoralise the force.

The Assembly had to be adjourned five times,as senior cabinet ministers tried to control the damage.

In a quick response,MNS chief Raj Thackeray conveyed to Bal Nandgaonkar,MNS leader in Assembly,to condemn the incident and promised action against Kadam. Leader of opposition Eknath Khadse and state BJP chief Sudhir Mungantiwar also criticised the incident.

Interestingly,some independent MLAs led by Sunil Kedar refused to allow the Assembly to function unless the police officer was suspended. Several Congress MLAs supported them.

Taking a firm stand,the Speaker said: I will need some more time to ascertain all the facts before giving any orders.