A group of activists belonging to Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) assaulted the assistant manager of a multiplex while protesting against high prices of food items being served there.
Sources said the incident took place on Thursday evening at the PVR Icon multiplex situated in the Pavilion Mall on Pune’s S.B. Road.
A group of MNS activists, led by local leaders Kishore Shinde and Ramesh Pardeshi, the vice-president of the party’s film wing, swooped inside the multiplex carrying placards and raising slogans against the extravagant rates of food items being served there.
The irate gang later questioned the assistant manager, Vinod Kumar Mali (25), as to why the multiplex kept such high rates for common eatables.
In a clip of the incident which later went viral, Mr. Shinde, along with two other MNS activists, were seen repeatedly slapping the manager and shouting profanities at him as he vainly attempts to calm them down. They further threatened other staff members who tried to intervene.
“The MNS workers carried placards stating why popcorn was being sold for ₹250 and why vada-paav was being charged at ₹100. They further beat up the assistant manager, Vinod Mali when he attempted to explain. Based on Mali’s complaint, we have lodged an FIR against Shinde and 10 other MNS workers for rioting, physical assault and unlawful assembly under the Indian Penal Code (IPC),” said police inspector Dayanand Dhome of the Chaturshringi police station, speaking to The Hindu.
The party’s action comes in the wake of the Bombay High Court hitting out at the Maharashtra government for failing to regulate the prices of food items being sold in multiplexes across the State.