The Bhayandar police have booked twelve members of the local Congress unit including city chief Pramod Samant and youth leader Deep Kakde on charges of creating a ruckus in the general body house during the ongoing monthly meeting of the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) on Wednesday. However, no arrests were made till reports last came in.
The ruckus triggered immediately after the meeting commenced when around a dozen Congress activists sporting black robes started waving banners from the audience gallery alleging massive corruption by the BJP-led women and child welfare committee (WCWC).
Stung by the unruly attitude, Mayor Jyotsna Hasnale, who had termed the allegations as wild, baseless and politically motivated had directed the administration to act following which assistant municipal commissioner Sunil Yadav lodged a complaint at the local police station on behalf of the MBMC.
Earlier, the mayor had not only alleged that those leading the agitation had themselves demanded and accepted bribes from the contractors but in an attempt to quell the peaceful agitation had also summoned security personnel to confiscate the banners and drive out the Congressmen.
Meanwhile, an offence under sections 186 of the IPC and relevant sections of the Maharashtra Police Act, 1951 has been registered against Samant, Kakde and 10 to 12 other yet-to-be-identified agitators. Further investigations were on, police said.
From inflated purchase rates of sewing machines and domestic flour mills to bogus beneficiaries and manipulated below poverty list (BPL), cases of financial irregularities have been regularly tumbling out from the closets of the WCWC for the past five years.
