The Mumbai police investigating the protest outside NCP chief Shard Pawar's residence have on Wednesday made Gunaratna Sadavarte's wife Jayashree Patil a wanted accused in the case. The police have also added sections of criminal breach of trust charges claiming Sadavarte has collected huge money from the MSRTC employees.
Sadavarte who is a council for Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) employees were arrested on Friday after over 100 MSRTC employees protested outside Silver Oak, Pawar's Mumbai residence on last Friday.
During the hearing on Wednesday, the police claimed that Patil had also helped in instigating the protest and attended a meeting with core committee members a night before the protest as a reason she has been named an accused in the case, said Pradeep Gharat special public prosecutor appointed for the case.
The police have added Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections for criminal breach of trust (406) and criminal breach of trust by an employee (409) claiming Sadavarte had collected over ₹2 crores, some of it from the MSRTC employees without giving them any receipt. They have also claimed to have found a diary of Sadavarte mentioning the entries of the collected money.
One Chandrakant Suryawanshi was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly uploading videos of Sadavarte on YouTube.
We want to question Sadavarte face to face with Suryawanshi and Abhishek Patil for which we require seven days of police custody of all three, said Gharat. He also added that the police are close to arresting the person from Nagpur who was in touch with Sadavarte on the day of the protests and also gave the instructions of sending reporters to the protest site on Friday.
The police also claimed that prior to the agitation, a meeting was held at the terrace of the building where Sadavarte stays, the meeting was attended by his wife along with the man from Nagpur which was also attended by key core committee members. The police are yet to disclose the identity of the Nagpur person claiming it will hamper the investigation.
11 MSRTC employees who took part in the protest were drunk said police on Wednesday.
Sadavarte was represented by advocate Mrunalini Kulkarni she argued that the police have already granted custody on the claims of conspiracy, alleged misuse of money and in the name of a person from Nagpur, how can every time police remand be granted on the pretext of face to face interrogation when they arrest a new accused. And added that the police are trying to change the direction of the investigation and claiming misuse of money which is actually money paid by clients to advocate and alleging misuse when no such grievances have been raised by the employees.
The court sent Sadavarte to 14 days of magistrate custody while custody of Patil and Suryawanshi has been extended by four days.
Meanwhile, the court has allowed Sadavarte's custody to Satara police who approach the court with a production warrant of Satara court in connection with a case of making an objectionable statements against Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj descendants Sambhajiraje and Udayanraje Bhosale in 2020
