Maha MLAs go scot free, all blame on cop who got thrashed

The House committee set up to probe the alleged thrashing of a police officer by a group of legislators in the Maharashtra legislature premises last month has recommended departmental inquiry against the concerned police personnel and revocation of suspension of three of the five MLAs.

Reading out the recommendations of the committee, Speaker Dilip Walse Patil on Thursday said the House panel had found the conduct of traffic sub-inspector Sachin Suryavanshi with legislator Kshitij Thakur on the Bandra Worli sea link on March 18 as "objectionable."

The committee has recommended departmental inquiry against Suryavanshi.

Admitting that the police officer was beaten up in the Vidhan Bhavan premises on March 19, the panel has also found that the nature of injuries was not serious.

The panel has not found proof of involvement of three MLAs -- Rajan Salvi (Shiv Sena), Pradeep Jaiswal (Independent) and Jaykumar Raval (BJP) -- in beating of the police personnel.

The panel has recommended that their suspension be revoked in the budget session itself.

It said that the other two legislators - Kshitij Thakur and Ram Kadam - were involved in thrashing the police officer.

"Criminal cases have also been filed against the two legislators. Their suspension be revoked in the first week of the monsoon session," the panel said.

According to the panel, a separate cell headed by the state chief secretary should be set up to monitor and review conduct of government officials with elected representatives.

"The cell should be accountable to chief minister and deputy chief minister," the panel said.

The panel has also asked the CCTV network in the Vidhan Bhavan premises to be upgraded and strengthened.

Walse Patil said he had read out the recommendations of the committee and the legislative assembly will have to take a decision regarding implementation of the recommendations.

The House panel comprised Ganpatrao Deshmukh (Peasants and Workers Party), Sadashiv Patil (Congress), Nawab Malik (NCP), Dilip Sopal (Independent), R M Wani (Shiv Sena), Girish Bapat (BJP) and Uttamrao Dikle (MNS). The committee had seven meetings and examined 17 witnesses.

The government had already suspended Suryavanshi, a traffic police sub-inspector at Worli. He had named Kadam and Thakur in the FIR. The two legislators were arrested following the incident and are currently out on bail.