Ink thrown at Maharashtra minister Chandrakant Patil over remark about Ambedkar, Mahatma Phule
Pune, Dec 10: Ink was thrown at Maharashtra Minister and BJP leader Chandrakant Patil in Pimpri city near here on Saturday in apparent protest against his controversial remark about Dr B R Ambedkar and social reformer Mahatma Jyotiba Phule.
The police detained the man who threw ink on Patil and further investigation was underway, Pimpri-Chinchwad police commissioner Ankush Shinde said.
Commenting on the incident, deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said Patil's statement was misunderstood by people.
A video of the incident showed a man throwing ink at the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader as he emerged out of a building. Security personnel around the minister immediately caught hold of the man.
Before the incident of ink throwing, some protesters also tried to show black flags to the minister's convoy in Pimpri.
Speaking in Marathi at an event in Aurangabad on Friday, Patil, who is the Higher and Technical Education Minister, had said that Ambedkar and Phule did not seek government grants for educational institutions, they "begged" to people to gather funds for starting schools and colleges.
The use of the word "begged" stirred up a controversy.
Speaking in Nagpur, Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the incident in Pimpri was very unfortunate, and Patil's statement had been misunderstood.
Even if Patil used the wrong word, one should try to understand what he meant, Fadnavis told reporters.
All he was trying to convey was that people such as Dr Ambedkar or educationist Bhaurao Patil did not take money from the government to run educational institutes, the BJP leader said.
Ink thrown on BJP leader and Minister Chandrakant Patil after he made statement on Bharat Ratna #BabasahebAmbedkar in Pimpri Chinchwad,Pune pic.twitter.com/rEChunDgOF
— Pramod Sharma (प्रमोद शर्मा) (@ipramodsharma) December 10, 2022
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MP boat tragedy: Death toll rises to 10 with recovery of one more body; 3 tourists still missing
Jabalpur (PTI): The body of a child was retrieved on Saturday evening from Bargi Dam in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy that took place two days ago to ten, while search continued for three missing tourists.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening with some of the survivors alleging negligence and safety lapses such as life jackets not being distributed in time.
The body recovered on Saturday evening was possibly that of six-year-old Viraj Soni, said Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra.
"The identity will be confirmed after family members identify the body," he told PTI.
Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Khamaria, his five-year-old son Tamil, and another child Mayuram (5) who had come from southern India were still missing.
Authorities have arranged equipment to search deep waters of the dam and are getting a generator to facilitate diving operations, Mishra added.
Divers and disaster response teams have expanded the search radius to five km, he said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the ill-fated vessel, 28 were rescued, police said.
More than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, joined the search operation that resumed at 5 on Saturday morning. The operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, was briefly affected at around 9 am due to strong winds, officials said.
Post-mortem examinations of nine deceased persons have been completed, Mishra said.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will also register a First Information Report in the case soon," he said.
Police said CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat while the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the tragedy and dismissed three crew members. It also banned operation of similar vessels in the state.
