MNS leader Amit Thackeray 'unveils' Shivaji statue in Navi Mumbai; booked along with others

Thane, Nov 17 (PTI) Police have registered a case against Amit Thackeray, son of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray, and nearly 70 others after a crowd allegedly forced open the cover of a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue in Navi Mumbai, an official said on Monday.

Besides MNS youth leader Amit Thackeray, party's Navi Mumbai unit president Gajanan Kale, 25 named persons and around 40 unidentified supporters of the outfit were named in the FIR after the incident in Nerul on Sunday afternoon.

An officer from the Nerul police station said, "The accused formed an unlawful assembly, took out a morcha without permission, pushed and obstructed police personnel, disobeyed lawful orders, and damaged the protective net around the statue." Despite repeated instructions, the crowd continued advancing toward the statue installation site. At around 2pm, the group allegedly forced open the statue's covering, he said.

The FIR, lodged at the Nerul Police Station, invokes multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including 132 (assault or use of criminal force to deter a public servant from duty), 121(1) (voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant), 189(2) (unlawful assembly), 191(2) (rioting), 190 (offence committed in prosecution of a common object), 324(3) (mischief), along with relevant sections of the Maharashtra Police Act.

Talking to reporters before the case was filed, Amit Thackeray said he "unveiled" the statue which he claimed had remained covered for four months because "leaders, officers and ministers had no time to inaugurate it and it was just gathering dust." Striking a defiant note, the MNS youth leader asserted that if a case was filed against him over the issue, he would consider it as an honour.

"I will be happy if my first political case is for (Chhatrapati Shivaji) Maharaj," he added.

Backing his cousin Amit Thackeray over the statue issue, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray on Monday asked who should be respected in Maharashtra if not the state's most revered figure Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

"Maharashtra will not tolerate this oppression. The statue was covered with a dirty cloth for four months and, unable to bear this insult of Maharaj, Amit removed it. You shamelessly file a case against him for respecting the Maharaj," the former state minister maintained. PTI COR PR RSY