Shiv Sena worker arrested for attacking colleague with iron rod

The Raigad police on Wednesday evening registered an FIR after a video of a man assaulting another man with a heavy iron rod went viral. The incident occurred on September 7 and the accused, Shivaji Govind Sonawale (35), was nabbed from Kalyan. The complaint was registered by the victim, Amar Bandal who arrived at the police station with a plastered arm.
The video garnered over 83,000 views by the evening and created a political stir after it was posted on X by the Shiv Sena (UBT), claiming that the accused was the bodyguard of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s Karjat MLA Mahendra Thorve. Thorve was one of the rebels who went with Shinde when he split the Shiv Sena and pulled down the MVA government in June 2022.
“There was no complaint registered on the day when the incident occurred,” said Raigad Superintendent of Police Somnath Gharge. “On 11 September, the person was traced based on the vehicle registration number, and we got him to file a complaint so that appropriate legal action could be taken against the accused. Prima facie the accused and the complainant are known to each other and the assault was in relation to damages caused to the vehicle of the accused earlier.”
Thorve denied that the accused was his bodyguard. In a statement issued on Wednesday, he said that the Shiv Sena (UBT) was intentionally defaming him. Speaking to the media, he said, “I am not connected with the incident. Sonawale is not my bodyguard. Both Bandal and Sonawale are my workers. In fact, Bandal is my relative. The Thackeray group is plotting to defame me.”
Leader of the opposition in the council Ambadas Danve said that it was the “arrogance of power” that led to such behaviour. “Earlier, we have seen people firing inside a police station,” he said in an apparent reference to BJP MLA Ganpat Gaikwad shooting at a Shiv Sena functionary inside a police station in Thane district a few months ago. Added Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and spokesperson Sanjay Raut: “These rebels, whom we call traitors, think they can get away with anything and everything. There is no fear of the law. Even their supporters imagine themselves to be MLAs.”