CM Uddhav Thackeray

AURANGABAD: An extension officer, who is posted with the who is posted with the Beed zilla parishad (ZP) , was smeared with ink on Monday, after he allegedly blamed chief minister Uddhav Thackeray for selling off his Hindutva ideology for the sake of the chair and calling him a ‘nalayak’ (unworthy) on social media.

Extension officer Satish Kulkarni (56) posted the following comment on the Facebook page ‘Shivsena’ on Sunday evening: ‘Are Nalayak Udhvast Satte sathi Tu Hindutva Viklas Shiv Sena Ata Sampli’ (You are unworthy of the power bestowed upon you, you have sold off Hindutva. Shiv Sena is now finished).

The comment did not go down well with Shiv Sena workers who, led by Sena’s women wing head in Beed district Smita Chavan, started looking for him. After searching for Kulkarni at the ZP office on Monday, the workers found him at the panchayat samiti office.

When contacted, Chavan said that when she reached out to Kulkarni and sought an explanation for the comment on Facebook, he first argued with her. Later, he changed his stance and claimed to be a Shiv Sainik and that he had written the comment by mistake. It was then that ink was poured over Kulkarni.

The video of ink being poured over Kulkarni has gone viral on social media. When contacted, Chavan confirmed her act and said, “Despite being a government employee, Kulkarni behaved and commented like a representative of a rival political party.”

On learning about the incident, the ZP administration ordered a probe. When contacted, Beed ZP CEO Ajith Kumbhar said, “I have asked the deputy CEO to carry out a detailed probe and table the report at the earliest. Appropriate action will be taken based on the report.” Beed superintendent of police Harssh Poddar said that police have not received any complaint. “After receiving a complaint, appropriate action will be initiated,” he said.

