New Delhi: Maharashtra government on Friday suspended two police officers for Maval firing after the Opposition stalled the Maharashtra Assembly demanding the resignations of the Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Home Minister RR Patil. Inspector Ashok Patil and Sub Inspector Ganesh Mane have been suspended for running after the villagers and firing at them. On Thursday six constables were suspended for damaging vehicles of the protestors.
But the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) came to their defence saying the police had no choice but to fire at villagers.
The firing by police resulted in three protestors dying on Tuesday. Videos show the police aiming at head-height while firing and chasing unarmed agitators with lathis.
The NCP also claims the villagers were provoked by the Opposition Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Meanwhile, the Opposition met the Governor, K Sankaranarayanan, on Friday morning asking for a dismissal of the Maharashtra government over the issue.
"We have requested the Governor to ask the Centre to dissolve the Maharashtra government. The Governor has assured us that he will discuss the issue with the Chief Minister and then take a decision," said Opposition leader and BJP MLA Eknath Khadse.
Even state Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan also met the Governor to discuss the matter. The Chief Minister said the probe report will be out in three months.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Police are defending his forces action saying they acted with utmost restraint.
"Suddenly the protestors came out on the highway, we exercised utmost restraint. We requested them to clear the highway after the protest, they refused and the crowd turned violent and started attacking. They attacked the police vehicle and started setting ablaze, the police vehicle," said une rural SP Sandeep Karnik.
The video with CNN-IBN shows the police trying to pull Sathe -one of the protestors - away from the spot. In a matter of a minutes, Sathe was found dead with a bullet injury.
The Opposition though remains unconvinced. BJP, Shiv Sena and MNS leaders met the Governor demanding the dissolution of the government. They also demanded strong action against NCP ministers Ajit Pawar and RR Patil.
But the question remains as to how did Maureshwar Sathe die - a question the Maharashtra government and the police are finding hard to answer.
"As we were dispersing the crowd from highway he was also removed from the spot by police. He ran away from the police and merged again with the crowd," said Karnik.
Meanwhile, the NHRC has issued a notice to the Pune Police Commissioner over the firing.
With it being the last day of the assembly session the issue is expected to simmer down politically. A judge will be appointed to look into the matter by next week and a report will be submitted after three months. Will the real culprits be brought to book?
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