FIR registered against Amit Thackeray, son of MNS Chief Raj Thackeray, and 70 MNS workers for refusing police permission and forcibly unveiling the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in a canopy constructed by Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) at a junction in Sector-1 in Nerul near Rajiv Gandhi flyover on Sunday, November 15.
The accused in the case are Amit Thackeray, chief of Maharashtra Vidyarthi Sena, Mumbai, Gajanan Kale, MNS President of Navi Mumbai City and Abhijit Desai, MNS Nerul unit chief, among other MNS workers. The case was registered under several relevant sections of BNS for assault of criminal force against a public servant, causing hurt to a public servant in the discharge of their duty, unlawful assembly, rioting, joint liability and mischief causing loss or damage to property, Brahmanand Naikwadi, senior inspector of Nerul, told the Times of India.
According to police, MNS workers and Raj Thackeray's son took out a morcha without permission and gathered illegally, also assaulting on duty Assistant police inspector Nilesh Chavan. The police said that the workers also created obstruction in the government's work by disregarding the instructions given by the police. They also damage the net installed around the statue.
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During this visit to Nerul, Amit Thackeray saw that the statue of Maratha King Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was covered with cloth on which dust had accumulated, as the NMMC had delayed the unveiling since February 2024.
When the police learn that Amit Thackeray was going to unofficially going to unveil the statue, a police force was deployed at the spot to prevent the unofficial unveiling of the statue. The MNS workers accompanying Thackeray vehemently protested, defying the police prevention and forcibly reached the canopy and tore apart the cloth covering the statue, after which Thackeray himself washed the statue.
The statue was built with an expenditure of around Rs 46 lakh at the Nerul Chowk. MNS Navi Mumbai President Gajanan Kale said, "The concerned civic authorities have been ignoring as probably they are waiting for the appointment of CM Devendra Fadnavis. As the cloth used to cover the statue had become dirty, it was indeed a desecration of the statue of the Maratha king."
While sharing the video of unveiling the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Nerul. Amit Thackeray in a post on X said that Maharashtra will never tolerate this insult to the Maratha Warrior. "Today, while going to Navi Mumbai for the branch inauguration, I learned that for a full four months, the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj has been covered with dirty, torn cloth simply because "no leader is available for the unveiling."
Amit alleged that the Maharashtra government leaders got time to visit other events like Dahi Handi, Diwali, Dasara, but to time to unveil the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who is the founder of Maharashtra Swarajya.
"This is what's happening in Maharashtra, and this is utterly shameful. That's why, when my colleagues and I reached the statue today, there was just one sentiment in everyone's mind: 'We absolutely will not see the Maharaja in such a condition.' Everyone firmly stated that this insult must end now," he wrote on X.