Ajit Pawar says damages to MSRTC property will be recovered from rioters

Mumbai:Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Saturday said that the money will be recovered from those people who have destroyed the state owned properties during the protest in the backdrop of rape of a 26-year-old woman inside a Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus of at Pune’s Swargate bus station. The Deputy Chief Minister’s remark a day after the arrest of the accused in the rape case. Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) had staged the protest and damaged the properties after the alleged rape at the Swargate bus depot.

Uddhav Thackeray had praised his party workers and leader Vasant More for ransacking the office of MSRTC at the Swargate bus stand.

According to the MSRTC officials, the protestors including Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Vasant More have caused the loss of Rs 60,000 by damaging the window glasses of the ST cabin offices. “We have also filed a case against the protestors including Mr More at Swargate police station,” said an official of the MSRTC said

Mr. Pawar, who is also guardian minister of Pune district, said, “Action will be taken against those who have damaged the public properties. Nobody will be spared. If any accused is not found, will anyone damage his home’s glasses and break the chairs?...Even the Court had stated that if anyone damages the public property, the recovery will be done from the leader or his party.”

After the announcement of the recovery of the money from the protestors, Mr. More said that if Ajit Pawar is worried about the glasses of the cabin, which were damaged, who would take responsibility for the victim’s safety, which had brought disgrace to her life. “...We have exposed how the abandoned buses in the depots have been littered with items such as condoms, saris of women among other things. The ransacking was a spontaneous response after seeing these things,” he said.