Law & order in Maha is worsening: Pawar

Warishe was mowed down by an SUV allegedly driven by land dealer Pandharinath Amberkar on Feb 06

First India Bureau Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday expressed worry over the murder of journalist Shashikant Warishe and said the law and order situation in Maharashtra is worsening while the seriousness of those in power was in doubt.

Warishe (48) was mowed down by an SUV allegedly driven by land dealer Pandharinath Amberkar on February 6 and died in hospital the next day. Amberkar, arrested for murder, allegedly used to threaten any person who opposed land acquisition for a proposed refinery in the area.

An article written by Warishe against Amberkar had ap took place near a petrol pump in Rajapur, some 440 kilometres from Mumbai.

"The Warishe case is a serious issue. Accidents and murders in the state are on the rise. The law and order situation in the state is worsening. There are doubts how much those having responsibility for the law and order situation take this seriously," Pawar said.

The home portfolio in the Eknath Shinde government is handled by Deputy Chief Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis. Pawar also said the visit by Prime Minister Narendra to Mumbai on Friday to launch two Vande Bharat trains, two elevated roads and an underpass was in view of the upcoming civic elections, though the NCP chief added "there is no problem if he gives something to Maha rash tra".

RAUT DEMANDS `50 LAKH AID FOR KIN OF DECEASED

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Raut on Saturday called the killing of journalist Shashikant Warishe a “political murder” and demanded that the Maharashtra government provide aid of Rs50 lakh to his family, even as Chief Minister Eknath Shinde termed the incident an “attack on democracy”. Raut said he has written to the deputy chief minister to provide financial aid to the slain journalist’s family. “He died due to the government’s negligence. There is pressure on the police to press those who oppose the setting up of a refinery in the area,” he said.

Queried on a proposal passed by the BJP in its meet on Friday claiming the Maha Vikas Aghadi government under Uddhav Thackeray wanting to imprison some of the saffron party's leaders, Pawar rejected the charge. Instead, MVA leaders like NCP's Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik and Shiv Sena (UB) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut were jailed, Pawar cited. Malik continues to be in prison while Deshmukh and Raut are out on bail.

The Warishe case is a serious issue. Accidents and murders in the state are on the rise. The law and order situation in the state is worsening. There are doubts how much those having responsibility for the law and order situation take this seriously.

—Sharad Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party chief

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