Nashik, February 26 Seven people, including the president of a local group, have been booked on charges of unlawful assembly and creating public nuisance after allegedly offering prayers inside the electricity department office of the Malegaon Municipal Corporation (MMC) in Nashik district, Maharashtra, police said on Thursday.
A video showing a group of people offering prayers inside the MMC's electricity department office has gone viral on social media, drawing sharp reactions from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Hindu organizations, even as Malegaon municipal commissioner Ravindra Jadhav has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
According to police, on February 23, Lukman Kamal, president of the Loksangharsh Committee, and his associates had gone to the MMC electricity department office to raise a civic issue.
When department officials did not meet with the committee members, the latter staged a sit-in in the office. The committee members also got into an argument with a senior officer, Abhijeet Pawar, and thereafter offered prayers in the department office, they said.
Based on a complaint lodged by Mahendra Raghunath Sawant (43), an employee of the MMC electricity department, a case was filed on February 25 against Kamal and six others at the Malegaon Quilla police station. All seven were booked for unlawful assembly and creating public nuisance under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and also under relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Police Act, they said.
In a social media post, BJP leader Kirit Somaiya urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to order an inquiry into the incident and demanded stringent action against those responsible for it.
On Wednesday, activists of Sakal Hindu Samaj recited Hanuman Chalisa inside the MMC premises to register their protest over the incident and demanded strict action in the matter.
A few days ago, a portrait of 18th-century Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan placed in the office of Malegaon deputy mayor Shan-e-Hind Nihal Ahmed had stirred a major controversy. The portrait was later removed from the office.