Mumbai: The crucial CCTV footage of MLAs assaulting a police officer inside the Maharashtra Assembly was inconclusive, says Home Minister RR Patil, dampening hopes of police to nail all those involved in the attack.
With Patil saying the footage was not able to clearly identify all those involved in the incident that sparked an outrage, the Crime Branch's probe into the assault of Sub-Inspector (Traffic) Sachin Suryavanshi on March 19 faces hurdles as it was banking on the video to proceed in the case.
A senior police officer said on Friday the probe team had hoped to prepare a water tight case against more attackers from the CCTV evidence. Two MLAs, Kshitij Thakur (Bahujan Vikas Agadhi) and Ram Kadam (MNS), were arrested in connection with the assault. The two lawmakers, currently out on bail, however, did not reveal names of other legislators involved.
Patil has said he along with DGP Sanjeev Dayal and Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Himanshu Roy watched the CCTV footage of the assault, but it does not show clearly who are all the legislators present at the time of the incident.
"The footage is inconclusive. Though there are about 28 cameras in the Assembly premises, they could not capture the incident clearly," according to Patil.
Suryavanshi was thrashed by around 10 to 12 MLAs, a day after he stopped Thakur's car and fined him for speeding on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link. Following the attack, Thakur, Kadam and three others were suspended from Assembly till December 31 and a Crime Branch probe was ordered.
The Home Minister later suspended Suryavanshi for alleged misbehaviour with Thakur. A Crime Branch officer, PV Nigde, was also suspended for allegedly entering the Assembly premises without pass while investigating the case. The incident is stated to be the first instance of a policeman being assaulted within Vidhan Bhavan by a public representative.
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