Palghar, Sep 7 (PTI) Police on Monday arrested Shiv Sena Palghar city chief Rahul Gharat in connection with the attack on staffers of a private hospital a day ago, allegedly carried out by party workers, while Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced his suspension.
Inspector Kishor Mahanubhav of the Palghar Police Station said after arrest, Gharat was produced before a local magistrate, who remanded him to police custody for one day.
A further probe into the attack was underway as police remain on the lookout for the remaining accused persons, he said.
The case stemmed from a rampage at Relief Hospital in Palghar over unpaid medical bills for injured Dahi Handi participants (‘govindas’), where a group of 15 to 20 individuals, said to be Shiv Sena functionaries and workers, forcibly entered the casualty ward and ICU in the wee hours of Sunday.
Gharat, who was part of the group, allegedly slapped a staff member while Shiv Sena Palghar district chief Kundan Sankhe and others intimidated doctors and forcibly removed a patient on IV fluids.
Police have registered an FIR against 17 individuals, including Sankhe, Gharat, and Rohit, son of local MLA Rajendra Gavit. They have been charged under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Maharashtra Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage or Loss to Property) Act for assault, criminal intimidation, trespass, unlawful assembly and other offences.
The FIR was filed on a complaint of hospital billing receptionist Vivek Babulinga.
Talking to reporters after attending a meeting of the Western Zonal Council held near Panaji, Deputy Chief Minister Shinde, who heads the Shiv Sena, announced Gharat’s suspension from the party, which is a constituent of the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance.
He insisted the incident was extremely unfortunate and added that physical assault against medical staff can never be justified or supported by the Shiv Sena.
Emphasizing that any grievances regarding medical treatment should be addressed legally rather than by taking the law into one’s own hands, Shinde issued a stern warning against violence toward healthcare professionals.
Reinforcing this stance, Shiv Sena spokesperson Susieben Shah noted no political affiliation can justify taking the law into one’s own hands and that accountability should be individual, impartial, and uncompromising.
Meanwhile, the opposition Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) launched a scathing attack on the ruling alliance.
Senior NCP (SP) leader Mahesh Tapase condemned the assault on hospital staffers as “organized hooliganism born out of the arrogance of power”, drawing parallels to a previous attack on healthcare workers in adjoining Dombivli in Thane district and demanding strict action against all 17 accused named in the FIR without political shielding.
Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Mhatre was accused of assaulting doctors at a Thane hospital on July 6. The corporator of the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) and others gathered at the civic-run Shastri Nagar Hospital in Dombivli and allegedly assaulted doctors after an argument over the purported delay in the treatment of a woman patient.
A Thane court on July 14 granted bail to Mhatre, which was later stayed by the Bombay High Court.
The HC granted bail to Mhatre and some other accused in the case on August 7 and imposed strict conditions on them. PTI COR RSY
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