A former Peasants and Workers Party leader, who is currently with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was briefly detained by the Crime Branch on Saturday after a video of him firing a revolver in the air during an event went viral.
The incident occurred during a cricket match at Vihingar village in Panvel on Friday night, when Pandharinath Phadke entered the ground in his BMW. As he got out of the car and walked to the other end of ground, a special Marathi song was played for his welcome and his men showered currency on him, while the vehicle followed them. During this time, Mr. Phadke is seen firing a revolver in the air three times.
After the video went viral, the Khandeshwar police was alerted about the incident, following which the Central Unit of the Crime Branch detained Mr. Phadke for enquiry. βThe revolver he possessed is called a starter revolver. He has a receipt of purchase from Mumbai in 2006 and a certificate issued by arms and ammunition department of the Mumbai Police, permitting him to keep the revolver. It is more or less like a toy gun, which only makes sound and smoke. We have seized it and will be verifying his claims and also the certificate he has produced, and later take a call on returning the same. As of now no case has been registered,β senior police inspector Nivrutti Kolhatkar said.
The cricket match, called βAamdar Chasakβ was organised by BJP MLA Prashant Thakur and Mr. Phadke was the special guest.