Ink attack on Maha minister: Police to summon TV journalist again during probe

PTI, Dec 12, 2022, 12:43 PM IST

Pune: Police probing the ink attack on Maharashtra minister Chandrakant Patil in Pimpri Chinchwad city will summon a television journalist again in connection with the case, a top officer said on Monday.

Police had arrested three persons and summoned the television journalist for his alleged role in the incident. He was allowed to go on Sunday late at night.

Pimpri Chinchwad police commissioner Ankush Shinde on Monday told PTI the journalist will be summoned on Monday for further investigation.

The ink was thrown on Patil on Saturday in an apparent protest against his statement that B R Ambedkar and social reformer Jyotiba Phule didn’t seek government grants for running educational institutions.

The use of the word “begged” by Patil, who is the state’s minister for higher and technical education, stirred a controversy, leading to the ink attack.

After the incident, police suspended 10 personnel including three officers for the security lapse.

Patil on Sunday said the ink was thrown on him as part of a planned attack and claimed his statement on Ambedkar and Phule was “distorted” by some people.

Meanwhile, Pune Police have filed a case against a man who recorded his video condemning Patil for his statement by standing outside the latter’s residence in Kothrud area of Pune late Sunday night.

“Despite police guards asking the person to go away, he did not listen and created obstruction in their duties and that is why we have registered a case against him under section 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Indian Penal Code,” said a police officer.