VALPOI: The Poriem Congress workers meeting arranged by Valpoi MLA Vishwajit Rane at the Bhumika temple hall was marred by a stone pelting incident followed by an FIR registered against 16 persons at the Valpoi Police Station.
The Poriem Congress workers’ meeting was arranged by Vishwajit in support of his father Pratapsing Rane, local MLA and Opposition Leader on Monday evening in the temple hall. In the beginning, the meeting went on smoothly but as soon Vishwajeet Rane was about to address the meeting, some of the villagers allegedly started pelting stones at him.
And as a result, the meeting was forced to be called off and Anil Majik, Poriem ex-sarpanch lodged a complaint at the Valpoi Police Station against ten persons including Vishnu Sawant, Vasu Sawant and Raju Sawant for stoning and for using filthy words against Vishwajit following which an FIR was registered.
Meanwhile, Majik in his complaint lodged at the Valpoi police station stated that the meeting started at around 7 pm and he along with Vishwajit Rane, Atmaram Shetye, Laxmi Naik, Chandan Gurav, Ravi Gaonkar, Bhisso Gaonkar, Udaysingh Rane and Vinod Shinde were on the dais. At around 7.45 pm when Vishwajit got up to address the meeting, one Vishnu Mahadev Sawant along with Suresh Sawant, Raju Sawant, Virendra Rane, Deelip Anant Paryekar and Anand Rane along with around 10 people, all residents of Sawantwada, Poriem, formed an unlawful assembly and charged towards the stage. Vishnu and Suresh started abusing Vishwajit using filthy language and further charged to assault him. However, the complainant along with other members intervened and tried to control the situation. The complainant further alleged that they were under the influence of alcohol and started assaulting him. Meanwhile, Virendra and Vishnu pelted stones at the complainant and others. The police rushed to the spot and tried to control the situation. Taking advantage of the crowd the above miscreants managed to escape. The complainant further alleged that the motive behind the incident is that these people want to gain political mileage in the village.
