Raj Thackeray booked for instigating party workers to ransack toll booth

PUNE: Police in Maharashtra on Tuesday booked MNS chief Raj Thackeray for allegedly instigating his party workers to ransack toll plazas at Khed-Shivapur on the Pune-Bangalore highway and at Manjari on the Pune-Solapur highway. Thackeray was booked in the two cases. On Monday, MNS workers pelted stones at the Khed-Shivapur toll plaza injuring six police personnel, two of them women. The MNS also pelted stones at four Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) buses and some private vehicles. Earlier in the day, they ransacked the Manjari toll plaza. Additional superintendent of police (Pune rural) Ravindrasinh Pardeshi told TOI, "We have booked Thackeray for instigating his party workers to indulge in violence. Thackeray had asked his workers through the media not to pay toll in the state and demolish toll nakas. We have filed two separate cases against him in the district." Asked what further action would be taken against Thackeray, a senior police officer said, "We have arrested MNS workers. We will question them and then decide on the action to be taken against Thackeray." On Tuesday, police arrested Vasant More, MNS corporator from the Pune Municipal Corporation, and 15 others for the ruckus near the Khed-Shivapur toll plaza. The police also detained a minor. "The suspects were produced in court and remanded in police custody till January 29," said a police inspector. Pardeshi said the MNS workers began pelting stones at the policemen when they were stopped from attacking the Khed-Shivapur toll plaza. "They even pelted stones at four MSRTC buses and private cars. The bus passengers were so frightened that they were not ready to leave the premises of the police chowki," he said. A police inspector said six MNS workers including four women were arrested for ransacking the Manjari toll plaza. Police have now been deployed heavily at all toll plazas in the district. "We are prepared for any situation," Pardeshi said. The police are yet to arrest the suspects involved in the attack on the office of a private company in Pune. "We have registered a case. We have not arrested anyone so far," a police inspector said.   TOI