Mumbai, Jan 7: Shiv Sena MLA Harshvardhan Jadhav, son-in-law of state BJP chief Raosaheb Danve, was on Friday handed a year-long rigorous imprisonment by a district court in Aurangabad for assaulting police officials at Ellora in January 2011.
District and sessions judge R R Kakani fined Jadhav Rs 5,000 each for the two offences slapped in the case under sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty) and 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from duty) of the Indian Penal Code.
However, Jadhav was acquitted of four charges under sections 307 (attempt to murder) 354 (outraging modesty of policewomen), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation). Two of his aides—Dilip Bankar and Santosh Jadhav—were acquitted by the court for lack of evidence. Jadhav's sentence was suspended and he was granted him till the pendency of his appeal in the higher court. He paid the penalty of Rs 10,000 and pleaded that he wanted to challenge the verdict, prosecution lawyer Arvind Bagul said.
On January 5, 2011, the Khuldabad police arrested Jadhav and two others following a scuffle after the police stopped him at Ellora. Tight security arrangements had been in place at the world heritage site as then chief minister Prithiviraj Chavan was visiting the area. Jadhav, who represents Kannad in the Aurangabad district, was then an MNS lawmaker.
Jadhav was on his way to Kannad from Aurangabad via Ellora when the police stopped his SUV at 10.30am for security reasons. The chief minister's convoy was moving out of the caves around that time.
The prosecution said that Jadhav broke the police cordon and sped towards the caves. Sub-inspector Suryakant Kokane attempted to stop the vehicle but Jadhav allegedly tried to run him over. The police managed to stop the vehicle. "However, Jadhav came out and kicked Kokane between the legs and slapped him," the prosecution said.
Commenting on the row, district Sena chief Ambadas Jadhav said the party respected the verdict. But he defended the MLA, saying, that "he was only making efforts to highlight people's issues."
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