The Kashimira police have booked two people including a former BJP corporator in the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC), Arvind Shetty, for wrongful restraint, intentional insult and obstructing government work. On February 4, Shetty had gone half-naked to register his protest against the construction of a median, which blocked entry into his hotel at Chene village on the Thane Ghodbunder road.
An FIR was registered following a complaint lodged by an engineer attached to the contractual agency, which had been awarded the work to construct a cement concrete road and traffic median by the MBMC on the virtue of funds allocated by the Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) in Chene village.
The viral video
A video in which Shetty was seen crying, pleading with Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to save him from the wrath of local Shiv Sena legislator Pratap Sarnaik had gone viral on various social media platforms. Shetty alleged that Sarnaik had been harassing him and targeting his hotels since he became a corporator in 2018. However, Sarnaik who had refuted the allegations dashed off a letter to Fadnavis seeking action against illegal establishments run by Shetty and other people in the twin-city.
“The incident exposes that owners of illegally operating hotels and bars were desperately trying to protect their unlawful business by taking names of their party and clean imaged politicians like the prime minister and deputy chief minister,” said Sarnaik. Meanwhile, the city engineer Deepak Khambit also wrote a letter to the Kashimira police seeking a detailed probe and legal action against the obstruction created by the former corporator. "The ploy is to block the entry of customers and finish my business," maintained Shetty who is considered to be a close confidante of former BJP legislator Narendra Mehta.
