The Maharashtra government last month submitted an application in a Pune court, asking for permission to withdraw a criminal case against Shiv Sena leader Neelam Gorhe and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s personal assistant Milind Narvekar. The case was registered in December 2010 against the two for allegedly instigating violence.

The case involved a taped phone conversation between the two that allegedly took place on December 27, 2010. In the recording, Narvekar purportedly gives instructions to Gorhe to cause violence during the Pune bandh scheduled the next day and instructs that it be carried out by pelting stones and burning public transport buses. Narvekar allegedly also told her to inform the media so that it was covered properly. The next day, at least 30 buses were damaged and burnt during the bandh and several workers of the Shiv Sena and other political parties were arrested.

The Pune police had reportedly wiretapped the phones of the political leaders after intelligence inputs suggesting that some of them would try to instigate violence during the Sena-backed bandh, called to oppose the removal of the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s mentor Dadoji Konddeo from the historic Lal Mahal by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

The two Sena leaders were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 153 (promoting enmity between different groups and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 120 (b) (hatching criminal conspiracy).

The Congress-NCP coalition was in power in the state when the incident took place.

Special public prosecutor appointed by the state government Prakash Suryavanshi confirmed to The Sunday Express that an application had been submitted to court asking for permission to withdraw the case. “I received an order from the government and I have accordingly submitted an application to the court last week,” he said.

A hearing on the application is scheduled in the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) S R Nimse on October 26.

As per preliminary information, the application quotes a resolution by the state government allowing withdrawal of the cases. It also mandates that a meeting of police officers be held to approve withdrawal of the case. The application states that a meeting in this regard was held at the Pune police commissioner’s office on September 21 and withdrawal of this case was approved along with some other cases. The committee was headed by police commissioner K K Pathak.

“As per the government resolution, a proposal to withdraw at least 70 to 80 cases that were political in nature has been made recently… All procedures were followed,” Pathak said.

When contacted, Gorhe said, “It is a sub-judice matter and I cannot comment on it.”

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