Mumbai: A Maharashtra police officer, assaulted by legislators in the state assembly premises, was on Monday suspended even as two MLAs allegedly involved in the incident walked out of jail on bail.
Buying peace with legislators who disrupted the proceedings of the two Houses of legislature over the last few days demanding action against the officer, Home Minister RR Patil announced in the assembly the suspension of Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Suryavanshi for "misbehaving" with Bahujan Vikas Agadhi MLA Kshitij Thakur.
Patil said he had watched the CD of the "verbal duel" Suryavanshi had with Thakur on Bandra-Worli sealink on March 18 following which he had announced in the legislative council that the incident will be probed and the officer would sent on forced leave.
"As per the preliminary inquiry by DCP SR Nilevad (DCP, Traffic-South), Suryavanshi was rude to Thakur, which is unbecoming of a police officer. He will be suspended till the inquiry is complete," Patil said.
He also announced the setting up of a committee headed by seniormost MLA belonging to Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) Ganpatrao Deshmukh to probe the incident of assault on Suryavanshi by a group of legislators. Dilip Sopal (Ind), Nawab Malik (NCP), Girish Bapat (BJP), R M Wani (Shiv Sena), Sadashiv Patil (Congress) and Uttamrao Dikle (MNS) would be on the panel.
A proposal to this effect was adopted by the House by a voice vote.
On the other hand, MLAs Kshitij Thakur and Ram Kadam (MNS) today walked out of jail as Metropolitan Magistrate UM Padwad ordered their release on bail.
The court ordered their release on sureties of Rs 15,000 each and directed them to appear before the Crime Branch office in Mumbai every Wednesday between 11 AM and 1 PM, till the completion of investigation.
The two were arrested last Thursday after they had surrendered before the Crime Branch following registration of an FIR against them based on a complaint by Suryavanshi.
Speaker Dilip Walse Patil asked the chairman of the committee Deshmukh to submit his report as early as possible.
The decision to set up a committee was taken at a meeting leaders of various parties had with Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.
PTI
