16 December,2024 07:59 PM IST | Thane | mid-day online correspondent
Representational Pic/File
Several Dalit outfits protested in Thane on Monday against the death of a man arrested in connection with the December 10 violence in Parbhani district of Maharashtra after a a glass-enclosed replica of the Constitution near Babasaheb Ambedkar's statue there was vandalised, reported the PTI.
According to the PTI, Somnath Venkat Suryawanshi (33) was among the more than 50 persons who were arrested in connection with the violence. He died at a hospital on Sunday morning after complaining of chest pain while he was lodged in Parbhani district central prison, as per police.
Among the groups that carried out a rally from the Thane district collectorate to the tehsil office was the People's Republican Party, whose leader Rajabhau Chavan said the Maharashtra government must give justice to Suryawanshi by dismissing the Parbhani superintendent of police and senior inspector.
"He did not die naturally. He was beaten to death by police," Rajabhau Chavan said, adding his party and likeminded outfits would carry out statewide protests if action is not taken immediately.
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Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole demands answers from govt over Beed, Parbhani incidents
Meanwhile, on day one of the winter session, the Parbhani violence and the sarpanch's murder in Beed district were raised in the Maharashtra Assembly.
"Both the incidents - the desecration of the Constitution and the brutal murder of the sarpanch - have happened after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government came to power. In Parbhani, an Ambedkarite activist died in police custody. This incident is very serious and there is a lot of anger among the followers of Ambedkar and the people of the state," Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) President Nana Patole said, while speaking in the assembly on Monday, and demanded that the government come clean on the two issues.
In his reply, Devendra Fadnavis assured that the discussion on these incidents will be held after the Speaker lists them.
Later, while speaking to the media in the Legislative Assembly premises, Patole said that the police had information about the kidnapping of Santosh Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district, but they sprung into action only after he was brutally murdered. "Are Dalits and Bahujans being oppressed after BJP came to power in the state? Has the EVM (electronic voting machine) government started a political murder spree in the state? "Patole questioned.
He also alleged that a youth, who was picked up by the cops in the Parbhani violence case, has died in police custody.
"The post-mortem report of Somnath Suryavanshi, a resident of Parbhani, has revealed that he was beaten to death by the police while in custody," said Patole, demanding that a murder case be filed against the government in this case.
He added that the police have arrested a person for descecrating a copy of the Constitution and there are claims that he is a "psychopath". "However, he participated in a rally taken out in connection with the atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh," Nana Patole pointed out.
(with PTI inputs)
