Pune Cantonment Board

Westin

Koregaon Park

RTI

Sarda

Bharatiya Janata Party

BJP

PCB

Medici

Yadav

Mundhwa

Narendra Modi

Devendra Fadnavis

Anil Patrudkar

CCTV

New Modikhana Road

A pay-and-park scam within the(PCB) came to a violent head during the early hours of Sunday at Thehotel inwhere Right to Information () activist Prafful Purushottam, who exposed the scam, was brutally assaulted by a) corporator fromat the hotel’s nightclub.Sarda (30), a resident of Market Yard, was at The House oflounge with some friends on Saturday evening. Around 1.45 am on Sunday, Sarda went to visit the washroom. As he returned to the lounge, he saw corporator Vivek Mahadeothere, along with his bodyguards. Sarda barely had time to react before Yadav allegedly grabbed him by the neck and started beating him. As per Sarda’s complaint, lodged with thepolice, Yadav threatened to kill him unless he backed off from the parking issue.Terrified, Sarda rushed to the police station immediately afterwards, where a non-cognisable offence was registered.Speaking to Mirror, Sarda said, “I had received a call from Yadav earlier and he had warned me not to mess with him by filing RTIs against the parking charges. I had ignored the threats at the time. But now, I am scared of what might happen.”“On one hand, Prime Ministerand Chief Ministertalk about fair governance; on the other, corporators from their party act like goons. Yadav must be punished,” added Sarda.Pointing out that Yadav and his men are frequent offenders in hotels, senior inspector, in-charge of Mundhwa police station, said, “We have registered the offence, but only after verifyingfootage can we decide on a further course of action. We will definitely take preventive action against Yadav.”The case has been filed under sections 323, 506 and 504 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).Yadav could not be contacted despite repeated attempts to reach for a comment on the complaint filed by Sarda.But, this isn’t the first time he’s been caught in acontroversy. Even before he was elected in 2014, Yadav was booked on charges of rioting and extortion in 2011, but later acquitted in both. In 2013, he was assaulted over a dispute involving collection of vehicle entry tax in the Pune Cantonment. Then, in September 2016, a group of men had opened fire at Yadav during the Ganesh immersion procession atin Camp.On the other hand, Sarda, who runs an event management company, has an ardent history with the RTI Act.In April 2015, he revealed that despite the CM declaring that 12 toll booths across the state had been shut down, nine were still functioning. Then in 2016, he filed an application with the ministry of petroleum and natural gas to inquire about the politicos who cancelled their subsidy. The ministry had said that no such data was maintained.In the parking scam case, Sarda claimed that the PCB contractors are supposed to charge Rs 4 and Rs 8 as pay-and-park charges for two-wheelers and four-wheelers, respectively. However, they often extort extra amounts of Re 1 and Rs 2 for each vehicle, thereby earning lakhs of extra rupees. Those who protest the voice are either threatened or have their vehicles damaged in the parking lots.