Navi Mumbai: MLA may appeal against verdict in 2013 assault case

NAVI MUMBAI: Shiv Sena Alibaug MLA Mahendra Dalvi and three others sentenced to two years’ jail for assaulting a candidate during a 2013 gram panchayat polls have also been collectively fined over Rs 1.08 lakh — each of the accused is to pay Rs 27,100.
It was learnt that the MLA and the others convicted planned to go in appeal.
Of the nine accused, Dalvi, Anil Patil, Ankush Patil and Avinash Mhatre were sentenced on Friday by principal sessions court judge, Raigad, Vibha Ingle for the assault on RPI candidate Babu alias Salim Lalasaheb Dighi, a resident of Vaishet village. The remaining five accused were acquitted.
Dalvi (57), who was elected to the legislative assembly in 2019, was the sarpanch of Thal and a zilla parishad member at the time of the commission of the offence.
Dighi had filed the case at the Alibaug police station.
“The incident was reported on December 15, 2013, at Vaishet village during the Thal gram panchayat electioneering,” a police official said, requesting anonymity. “Complainant Babu alias Salim Lalasaheb Dighi was contesting the election on an RPI ticket. He along with an RPI office-bearer were returning to their home in Simon Colony on a motorcycle when about 90 supporters of Dalvi stopped them midway. They attacked them and abused the complainant using a word punishable under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Upon investigation, nine persons were made accused under various sections.”
Dalvi and his wife, Manshi, had run into a controversy earlier for allegedly quarrying stone beyond the permissible limit at Tudal village. The Alibaug tehsildar had served the Dalvis a notice to recover over Rs 15.3 crore in 2019.
Assistant public prosecutor Milind Pandkar, who represented the state, declined to comment on the case. Dalvi did not respond to repeated phone calls and text messages.