Case against 21 named Ganesh mandal members over blocking road during Pombhurna immersion procession

Police in Pombhurna (Chandrapur) have registered a case for blocking the road at Bus Station Chowk during a Ganpati immersion procession. According to the police complaint, the procession did not have the administration's permission. The case names 21 workers of a Ganesh mandal from Teli Mohalla and also covers some other people.

Police said the incident took place on the night of September 28. It is alleged that instructions to move the procession ahead were ignored and that police personnel were jostled. Further investigation is under way under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Maharashtra Prohibition Act.

Pombhurna police have booked 21 named workers of the Vighnaharta Ganesh Mandal, Hanuman Chowk, Teli Mohalla, along with 8 to 10 other women and men. It is alleged that the procession was taken out without the administration's permission and while drunk, raising a law-and-order concern.

Police said that on the night of September 28, office-bearers and workers of the mandal were carrying out the immersion procession after drinking. Police and the administration repeatedly asked them to move the procession ahead, but the workers allegedly ignored this. It is alleged that they gathered a crowd, parked a tractor (number MH 34 BR 0939) and other vehicles on the main road at Bus Station Chowk and blocked it completely. It is also alleged that others were incited to sit on the road and that the immersion procession of the Suryadev Ganesh Mandal of Shastri Nagar, behind them, was stopped from moving ahead.

When police and the administration tried to handle the situation, the workers argued, saying: "We have permission until 11 pm, why are you asking us to move ahead?" Meanwhile, a quarrel broke out among the mandal's workers over dancing. When police intervened, the angry workers allegedly jostled the police personnel on duty. As the atmosphere worsened, an assistant police inspector and other personnel tried to persuade them, but the workers allegedly kept the vehicles on the road. When a woman police constable tried to reason with them, a woman named Alka Naitam allegedly scuffled with and assaulted her, and incited people to sit on the road.

Given the seriousness of the matter, the Pombhurna tehsildar, the chief officer and the sub-divisional police officer of Mul reached the spot and tried to persuade the protesting workers. It is alleged that even then the mandal's office-bearers and workers stayed on the road and kept shouting slogans against the police, including "Dismiss them, suspend them". According to police, all this continued from 8.15 pm on September 28 to 1.30 am on September 29.

The case has been registered at Pombhurna police station on the complaint of police constable Mangesh Kaniram Shriram, on charges of violating a government order, gathering a crowd, arguing, inciting, blocking the main road and obstructing police work. The accused named are Balaji Vasant Bhandekar, Kapil Laxman Bawne, Rahul Prabhakar Deotale, Vrushab Arun Naitam, Mahesh Arun Naitam, Amit Nandkishor Naitam, Amit Dadaji Bhandekar, Ajit Sadashiv Dhodre, Pratik Shalik Dudhbale, Rakesh Rushidev Deotale, Nikhil Santosh Shette, Sahil Balu Naitam, Vinod Ashok Chandekar and Santosh Uddhav Parlewar. Dinesh Naitam, Nikhil Armidwar, Jayant Tekam, Rakesh Mogarkar, Gunwant alias Anurag Dhodre, Sandesh Dhodre and Alka Naitam are said to be absconding. All 21 accused face charges under various sections of the BNS and the Maharashtra Prohibition Act. Further investigation is being carried out under the guidance of police inspector Rahul Shankar Thengne.