2 MNS corporators held for humiliating BMC engineer

Mumbai, Oct 8: Two MNS corporators from the city were arrested today, days after they forced a civic chief engineer to hold a placard on a potholed road in Dadar, which read "I am responsible for potholes," police said.

Sandeep Deshpande and Santosh Dhuri surrendered before Shivaji Park police station officials in Dadar this evening, following which they were formally arrested.

"The corporators were arrested under IPC Section 341 (wrongful restraint) and 506 (34) (criminal intimidation)," Deputy Commissioner of Police Paramjit Singh Dahiya told PTI tonight.

The incident had occurred in the afternoon on October 5 when a group of workers, led by MNS leader in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Sandeep Deshpande and corporator Santosh Dhuri met BMC Chief Engineer (Roads department) Sanjay Darade at his office in Worli, an official of Shivaji Park police station said.

They asked Darade to accompany them to a spot between Sena Bhavan and Plaza Theatre in Dadar area and after reaching the spot, he was forcibly made to hold a placard which read, "I, Chief Engineer of Roads Department, Iam responsible for these potholes.

Citizens should take note of this." Following the incident, Darade had approached the Shivaji Park police on Thursday night and filed an FIR against the corporators and others involved.

Over 4,000 civic engineers had held protest marches outside BMC's engineering hub in Worli on Thursday and threatened to resign if action is not taken against the corporators before October 10.

Sainath Rajadhyaksha of the Municipal Engineers Union said, "Not just arrested, we need them disqualified from the BMC. The number of such incidents is on the rise.

Despite assurances from municipal commissioners in the past, nothing has changed." Making a case for a law to protect engineers, like doctors, Rajadhyaksha added, "Unless there is a strong deterrent, these incidents will continue."

PTI