Former encounter specialist is BJP's Thane man

Ravindra Angre, who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on February 1, is being looked upon as the man to take on Shiv Sena and NCP in the Thane Municipal elections to be held in 2017

With former encounter specialist Ravindra Angre joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party is fielding him as their man to contest the Thane Municipal elections in February 2017 and fight the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). He is also being considered for Thane’s BJP president’s post. BJP, which is facing stiff competition from Shiv Sena in the area, has put up posters of Angre holding a gun all over Thane.

Ravindra Angre’s posters shows him holding a gun to finish off his rivals. Pic/Vinay Dalvi

Angre, a 1983 batch police inspector, joined BJP on February 1. In his tenure, he shot dead 54 gangsters, including the famous underworld don Suresh Machekar and destroyed gangster Amar Naik’s gang. BJP plans to field him against Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde, who has a strong hold on the Thane, Kalyan and Dombivli belt. Shinde had allegedly helped builders Mahesh Wagh and Ganesh Wagh file a case against Angre, when he was in the police force, because of which the latter was imprisoned was 14 months.

Angre told sunday mid-day, “NCP has leaders like Jitendra Awhad who has a great grip on Thane and Shiv Sena has Eknath Shinde. We are trying to establish the party in Thane.” With Angre  on their side, the BJP is trying to fight the NCP and Shiv Sena all alone, and is likely to not form an alliance with the latter. “I am starting a membership drive from Tuesday and have full support from Maharashtra Chief Raosaheb Danve,” said Angre. Meanwhile, his supporters have put up banners of Angre holding a gun with a message that Angre, who had finished the underworld from Thane, will now finish his rivals.

Tainted past
Fifty-eight-year-old Angre was arrested for threatening local builders Mahesh and Ganesh Wagh in June 2010. He was later reinstated into the force and transferred to Gadchiroli. DGP Sanjeev Dayal transferred Angre as he thought the encounter specialist  could be of great help to the local police. However, Angre refused to accept the transfer, following which he was dismissed from service in June 2014.

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