A case under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has been registered against nine persons for allegedly abusing and threatening an officer from the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) encroachment department with casteist slurs. The accused have also been charged with allegedly demanding money to withdraw complaints filed against the officer.
The accused have been identified as Hrishikesh Abhiman Sawant, Sunil Jayawantrao Pawar, Umer Mainuddin Shaikh, Rajendra Vilas Jadhav, Ramesh Vishnu Khamkar, Shankar Kinnu Thakur, Milind Jadhav, Nagubai alias Meenatai Siddappa Dhotre and Kavita Vinaykumar Patekar.
According to the police, the complaint was lodged by a divisional encroachment officer at Shivajinagar Police Station regarding an incident that allegedly took place inside the premises of the PMC on March 27.
Police said that while the complainant was performing official duties, Sawant allegedly obstructed him, started an argument and abused him using casteist slurs. He also allegedly threatened the officer by saying, “I will make sure you lose your job.”
According to information, Pawar and others allegedly targeted backward-class officers working in the civic body to prevent repeated anti-encroachment action against illegal roadside stalls linked to their interests. The accused allegedly filed false complaints against civic officials in different government departments to create pressure on them.
The FIR also states that the accused allegedly demanded ₹10,000 from Encroachment Inspector Dhammnanda Gaikwad in exchange for withdrawing all complaints filed against him and assuring that no further complaints would be submitted in the future.
Additionally, the complaint alleges that Patekar, allegedly taking advantage of her disability status, repeatedly staged protests outside the PMC building for personal reasons, obstructed government work and circulated misleading reports about officials and employees on social media to defame them.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Chandrakant Bhosale is conducting further investigation into the case.
