Mumbai: A non-cognisable case was registered on Friday against Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad and his supporter for assaulting a worker at the MLA hostel canteen in south Mumbai, police officials said.
A non-cognisable case is registered in minor offences. Police can not arrest without a court warrant in such cases.
Gaikwad and one of his supporters assaulted the worker at the Akashwani MLA hostel canteen for `serving stale food’ on Tuesday night.
According to the details, Gaikwad had ordered dinner from the canteen on Tuesday night. However, he found the dal and rice delivered to his room to be stale and foul-smelling. Angry after this, the Sena MLA from Buldhana stormed into the canteen and confronted the employee. He also hit the employee on his face.
After the incident, Gaikwad said, as quoted by NDTV, “These Shettys have been playing with our lives for a long time. Today, they tried to play with my life. My stomach isn’t good, and I have been disturbed over it for the last 20 years. The slightest mistake can land me up with a stomach ache.”
“The Opposition shares their views, but do they not know that these Shettys of the south have defamed Maharashtra’s culture, be it in terms of dance bars or ladies bars. These things have been going on in Maharashtra for a long time and are being done by the Shettys. Shetty is not written on his forehead, but the hotel belongs to the Shettys,” he added.
On being asked if he might have reacted differently if the canteen employee had been a Marathi, Gaikwad said, “This is not a question about Marathis. Firstly, Marathis wouldn’t have made such a mistake… The people of Maharashtra have never run a dance bar or a ladies bar; they have never done such acts, only outsiders do such acts. Earlier, Balasaheb had also protested these.”
Following the video sparked a row, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Gaikwad’s conduct was unnecessary.
He said, “We came to know that the facilities were not up to the mark, the food was stale. Whatever it is, one can register a complaint. I request that you (Chair) deal with it independently. But for a public representative to assault someone, and the video getting circulated is not good.”
Even Deputy CM Eknath Shinde condemned his party colleague’s actions. “We are representatives of the people, and we have some responsibility. I condemn Gaikwad’s action. I have told him that it’s wrong to slap someone,” he said.
However, Gaekwad continued to defend himself. He said, “I have been complaining about it for the last two to three years but in vain. It was not just me, but several other MLAs, their assistants, and other people raised similar complaints but nothing came out of it. I knew the road I adopted was incorrect, but taking the wrong road has led me to the right path, and this is why a case has been registered against him today.”
In 2024, Gaikwad sparked a row after he offered a reward of Rs 11 lakh to anyone who chopped off senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s tongue.
Also, a video showed a policeman washing Gaikwad’s car, to which the legislator said that the policeman had volunteered.
In February 2024, Gaikwad claimed he had hunted a tiger in 1987 and wears its tooth around his neck. Following this, he was charged under the Wildlife Protection Act.
