Congress corporator from Thane Vikrant Chavan was on Wednesday caught on camera allegedly hurling abuses at a woman journalist, who was recording him misbehaving with the metro station staff.
Taking to Twitter, journalist Tabassum Barnagarwala shared the video where the Congress leader could be heard telling her 'chal, sh ban' (try to be smart).
"I am a corporator, do you know that?" was the first thing I heard as I entered the metro station today. Congress corporator Vikrant Chavan was shouting at two Metro staffers and two security personnel who tried their best to calm him down. Being a journalist, I was curious," she wrote in a series of tweets.
When the journalist enquired, staffer Sajid replied, "He is a corporator, that is the only reason he is shouting. He will not even listen."
Later, she intervened and asked Chavan politely to calm down. "His voice grew louder, he said "Tu ja yahan se. Mein Vikrant Chavan hun. Corporator". At that point, we decided to make a video. Chavan turned violent and hit my hand to stop the video," she said.
Highlighting the cases filed against Chavan, she said: "In 2015, Congress' Chavan, from Thane, was charged with abetment to suicide after Thane builder Suraj Parmar committed suicide.H e was accused of "mental harassment and demanded payoffs" by Parmar forcing him to end his life."
"Chavan, with three other corporators, was accused of creating a nexus involving politicians and builders. He was even imprisoned for some time in Parmar's suicide case. In 2017, Thane police raided his and his family's house due to undeclared assets," she added.
Stressing that this year Congress nominated Chavan to contest from Oval Majiwada seat for the state assembly elections in Thane, the journalist said: "It is sad to know that politicians avail such freedom to shout and assault at their whim and still get nominated by party."
Reacting to this, Chavan said he had an argument with the metro staff as they were unable to find his stuck token in a machine which is required to travel in Metro.
"I had argument with officials after my ticket got stuck in a machine at a metro station. A woman started taking video. I pushed her mobile away. If I am wrong, she can sue me, if I am not wrong I will take action," he said.
( With inputs from ANI )