Bombay High Court junks plea seeking CBI probe against Maha minister Awhad in 'assault' case

Representative image

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by a Thane resident seeking a CBI probe against Maharashtra cabinet minister Jitendra Awhad for allegedly assaulting him over a social media post.

A division bench of Justices P B Varale and S M Modak said it would pass a detailed order later.

The petitioner, Anant Karmuse, has alleged he was beaten up by Awhad's "goons" in 2020.

The Thane police had registered an FIR in the case, but Karmuse, in his petition filed in the HC, sought the probe to be transferred to the CBI.

Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, appearing for the state government, told the court that the petition was politically motivated and in such matters it was not fair to question the integrity of the police force.

Karmuse's case was that on April 5, 2020, he had put out a social media post in which Awhad's photograph was superimposed on another image. This allegedly did not go down well with the Maharashtra minister, and some policemen reached Karmuse's doorstep on that very day.

The policemen allegedly took Karmuse to Awhad's residence in Thane where 15 to 20 people beat him up with bamboos, iron pipes and belts, according to the complainant.

The victim claimed the entire incident took place in Awhad's presence.

Karmuse said Awhad, a senior NCP leader, allegedly asked him how he had dared to upload a social media post that was critical of him.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.