Rohit Pawar goes to police station, asks that cases against MPSC aspirants be filed against him instead

NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) MLA Rohit Pawar has expressed strong displeasure over the police action against the MPSC aspirants' agitation in Pune. He asked why no action was being taken against him when cases were being registered against the students. With this question, Pawar went to Vishrambaug police station and sought answers from officers.

Pawar demanded that cases be registered against him instead of the students and that the cases against the students be withdrawn. He also targeted Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and demanded action against police officers concerned with the Chief Minister.

Students have been agitating for the past ten days at S. M. Joshi bridge in Pune with several demands, including the resignation of the MPSC chairman. According to Rohit Pawar, the students are protesting peacefully, but the police are deliberately harassing the organisers and the students. He also objected to notices served at midnight on those running hostels and to threats allegedly being made to students not to join the agitation.

Pawar said it was wrong to treat students as criminals or terrorists. He alleged that the children of poor farmers were being treated as if they were criminals and spies. He demanded that the cases against the students be withdrawn and that cases be registered against him under the relevant sections.

Pawar said several applications for permission to hold the agitation had been submitted to the police, some of which were rejected. He warned that the government should take an immediate decision on the students' demands, or the agitation could grow bigger. In his view, if the path of action is taken instead of resolving the matter through talks, the situation could worsen.

Meanwhile, Vishrambaug police have registered a case against five people for flying a drone and shooting footage at the agitation site without permission. The police have seized the drone. The case has been registered under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against Digambar Bharat Khare, Pramod Patil, Shivraj More, Rushikesh Gangurde and Akshay Kamble, on the complaint of police constable Yuvraj Bharat Tole.

According to police, at about 7.30 pm on Monday, October 5, Digambar Khare was found flying a drone with a remote controller near the generator behind the agitation site. Questioning revealed that he did not have the licence required to fly a drone or police permission. The police then took action. After this action, Rohit Pawar went to Vishrambaug police station and asked the police on whose orders cases were being registered against the students.

Earlier, a case had been registered against 15 people, including MPSC student representatives, for continuing the agitation even after permission was cancelled.