The attack on Jadhav’s bungalow comes in the backdrop of a war of words between Jadhav and Rane’s two sons. (Twitter/@_BhaskarJadhav)Unknown miscreants pelted stones, threw a stump and a petrol bottle in the compound wall of MLA Bhaskar Jadhav’s bungalow in Chiplun in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district in the wee hours of Wednesday. Confirming the same, an official from the Chiplun police station said no one was hurt in the incident.
The official also said no complaint has been received so far from Jadhav’s side. A police team has visited the spot and are waiting for a complaint to initiate action. Jadhav, who is part of the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, has been in the news for taking jibes at Union Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Minister Narayan Rane, who has a strong political hold in Maharashtra’s Konkan region. Rane, who is now with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was earlier with the Shiv Sena and served as the chief minister of Maharashtra when the Sena was in power.
The attack on Jadhav’s bungalow comes in the backdrop of a war of words between Jadhav and Rane’s two sons. Addressing a crowd earlier, Jadhav had mimicked Rane and took jibes at him using words like “frog” and “chicken seller” while alleging he is corrupt. Rane’s son Nitesh Rane in response called Jadhav “a stray dog”. Rane’s second son Nilesh Rane had publicly cautioned Jadhav to mind his words. Jadhav had in response publicly called Nilesh an “addict and drunkard”.
In response to Jadhav’s derogatory and defamatory comments, Tukaram Sail, a BJP leader from Kudal in Sindhudurg, filed a police complaint following which an FIR was registered Tuesday night.
Jadhav was booked under Sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot—if rioting be committed), 505 (1) (c) (public mischief with intent to incite, or which is likely to incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community), 500 (defamation) and 504 (intentional insult) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).