Police on Sunday filed a first information report (FIR) against Shiv Sena leader Chandrakant Khaire in Aurangabad city of Maharashtra for allegedly making objectionable remarks against state Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, an official said.
The case was registered at Satara police station in Aurangabad based on a complaint lodged by Rajendra Janjal, the district unit chief of the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction), he said.
Khaire, a former Member of Parliament from the Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency, is a loyalist of Uddhav Thackeray, who heads another faction of the Shiv Sena.
The FIR said that Khaire had made objectionable comments against CM Shinde while speaking to media persons. In his interview with a regional news channel, Khaire said that had Shinde's mentor and late Shiv Sena leader Anand Dighe been alive, he would have thrashed Shinde after hanging him upside down for being a traitor, it added.
Shinde's rebellion against the Sena leadership had led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in June this year.
In his complaint, Janjal said that Khaire had passed objectionable remarks against the CM on earlier occasions as well, the official said.
The complaint said that Khaire maligned the chief minister's image by using unparliamentary language against him, he added.
"Taking objection to Khaire's remarks against CM Shinde, Janjal approached Aurangabad Police Commissioner to lodge a complaint. On the instructions of senior police officials, he then went to Satara police station in Aurangabad and lodged the complaint," the official said.
Accordingly, police registered the FIR against Khaire under section 153-A (1) (b) (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc), 189 (threat of injury to public servant), 505 (1) (b) (act likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public or induce people to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquillity), he said, adding that further investigation is on.
