Nasik MNS secretary Vasant Gite released on bail

Nashik, Feb 14: The general secretary of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's Nasik unit, Vasant Gite, who was detained as a preventive measure ahead of party chief Raj Thackeray's arrest, was released on bail on Thursday.

Gite was taken into preventive custody along with two other Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leaders, Sampat Jadhav and Haribhau Lonari on Wednesday.

Police rounded up over 200 MNS activists in the last two days here following protests against arrest of Raj Thackeray following his announcement that north Indian festivals like Chhat Puja and Uttar Pradesh Diwas should not be celebrated in Maharashtra, and that people on non-Maharashtrian origin living in Maharashtra should behave as Maharashtrians. Meanwhile, the heat on Maharashtra Navnirman Sena continues across Maharashtra.

Nasik Police on Thursday slapped a case on MNS activists under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for causing the death of a Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) employee during Wednesday's protest.

The police have named an MNS activist, Sandeep Bhavar, as the main accused in the case. Bhavar, absconding after the incident, was arrested by the police on Thursday.

The HAL staffer, Ambadas Haribhau Dharrao, 55, was killed in an incident of stone-pelting.

Dharrao was returning home early from the HAL plant at Ojhar near Nashik when the incident occurred.

While the financial capital of the country remained peaceful, there were reports of stone pelting, arson and attacks on North Indian migrants from Nashik, Pune, Aurangabad and some other towns.

Nearly 10,000 people belonging to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar working in the industries of Ambad and Satpur in Nashik have already gone back to their home states.

ANI