A Mumbai court granted bail to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former city mayor Datta Dalvi on Friday, two days after his arrest for allegedly making objectionable remarks against Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
According to reports, Metropolitan Magistrate M.R. Washimkar, at Mulund court, allowed his bail plea after hearing arguments from both the defence and prosecution. In the bail application filed through advocate Sundeep Singh, Dalvi claimed he was "innocent and falsely implicated" in the case. The plea stated that he had not played any role in the alleged offence. The accused has been in custody since the day of his arrest, and the police's investigation is nearly complete. Hence, keeping him in custody serves no purpose, it added.
The rival factions of the Shiv Sena led by Thackeray and Shinde have been at odds since the party split in June 2022.
Dalvi was arrested by the city police on Wednesday for the alleged objectionable remark against CM Shinde. During their probe, the police discovered that a meeting was organized on Sunday by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) in suburban Bhandup, where Dalvi allegedly made objectionable remarks against CM Shinde.
Based on this, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Dalvi under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 153(a) (promoting enmity between different groups on the ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.), 153(b) (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 294 (obscene acts and songs), and 504 (intentional insult with the intent to provoke breach of peace).
Dalvi's Controversial Statements
"We all know that there is a 'Mindhe group' today. The Mindhe government was itself established with the axe of treachery. Had Dighe Saheb been alive today, he would have lashed Eknath Shinde with a whip. We have seen who Eknath Shinde was and what he was doing. He came close to Balasaheb, Balasaheb blessed him. Shinde also came close to Uddhavji, Uddhavji got him closer, and he committed such a great treachery. He betrayed himself and the party, using Hindu Hridayasamrat Balasaheb's name. *****, do you even know the meaning of Hindu Hridayasamrat?" Dalvi targeted CM Shinde during the public meeting.
Dalvi, currently affiliated with the Thackeray faction, served as the mayor of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) from 2005 to 2007 under the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance-led government. Prior to this, he was a corporator in the BMC for three successive terms.