Chargesheet against Raj

The statements of 32 witnesses gathered by the Kherwadi police recount the incident of October 2008 when MNS activists took to the streets agitating against the Railways for issuing advertisements in newspapers in North India “to attract candidates from that region instead of giving priority to sons of the soil”.

The activists are charged with direct roles in the attack while Thackeray is accused of having incited them and planned the attack. The activists allegedly tore off posters put up at the examination centre and beat up candidates.

Along with students from North India,many Maharashtrian candidates,too,had allegedly been harassed. A few of the candidates testified that their papers had been snatched and they were asked to leave the centre.

“My answer paper was snatched and they kept shouting slogans inside the centre. They abused me when I tried to get my answer paper back,” reads the witness statement of candidate Rakesh Kumar of Bihar,who appeared in the examination for the post of goods guard.

The court handed over the chargesheet to all accused,but the special public prosecutors appointed in this case were absent. Immediately after cases had been filed against Thackeray and his party workers,the state government had appointed special public prosecutor Rohini Salian and Majid Memon.

However,both claimed they had not been informed by the state about the chargesheet. “The chargesheet is usually perused in the prosecutor’s presence. We were not informed. Now we will have to wait till the chargesheet is sent to us,” said Salian.

MNS spokesman Nitini Sardesai said this was the first such chargesheet against Thackeray and party workers and it would be fought legally.