Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: There was a clash between the office-bearers of the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) Sena and Shinde Sena group at Padegaon during the procession of Pola festival.
They attacked each other with hockey and baseball sticks even trying to strangle them. Timely intervention of the police prevented an untoward incident.
In the incident took place at 8 pm on Monday while complaints and counter-complaints were lodged with the Cantonment Police Station on Tuesday. Due to the unstable political environment in Padegaon, the police had already made tight security. However, suddenly the situation went out of control for some time as the processions of two groups came face to face on the same road.
As per the allegation made by Gajanan Lokhande (33, Juna Bhavsingpura), when he was in a procession with his friends and family, at 8 pm on Monday, accused Ambadas Mhaske and others abused him saying 'how did you come here? Started beating him up.
Mhaske’s other accomplices beat and injured Gajanan with shovels and baseball sticks. A case was registered against Ambadas, Khandu Mhaske, Nandu Mhaske, Eknath Ghanwat, Sachin Ghanwat and other members of the mob.
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Threatened to strangle father
On the other hand, Yash Ambadas Mhaske (19, Padegaon) alleged that the accused Ganesh Lokhande and others abused him while he was near the temple.
'When our procession was going on, why did you come here with the procession'? Asking this, he instructed me to withdraw the procession. A dispute arose out of this and the accused beat and injured the father with a wooden stick and also threatened to kill him by strangulation. A case was registered against Ganesh along with Gajanan Lokhande, Shailesh Lokhande, Om Tor and Amit Lokhande.
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Both groups raised slogans
Even after the clashes, both groups showed their strength by shouting slogans. Ambadas Mhaske is the deputy district head of the Shinde Sena group, while Ganesh Lakehande is the deputy city chief of the UBT Sena faction. The dispute between the two groups was simmering for the past several days because of the upcoming Assembly and civic body elections and political differences.
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The clashes that took place after the two processions came face to face on Monday are being hotly debated in political circles.