The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday suspended Mohan Shukla (60), the corporator from Dombivli, from the party after he was arrested for the murder of Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar. Shukla, a retired state excise officer, was arrested by the CBI on Sunday from Dombivli.  

A year ago, Shukla had joined BJP in the presence of party leader Vinod Tawde. Following the death of Nandu Joshi, a corporator with a clean image, party decided to field Shukla in the by-polls from municipal ward number 86. Shukla’s daughter Prachi is also a sitting corporator from the neighouring ward and belongs to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Despite being from NCP, Prachi had campaigned for her father during the by-elections.

Shukla’s nomination had attracted opposition from many in the party and also the sangh loyalists. The Sangh parivar members had even fielded their own independent candidate against Shukla.

The arrest of Shukla has left BJP embarrassed since the accused had replaced Nandu Joshi, who was known to have fought against corruption in his tenure. Nimbalkar was shot dead along with his driver at Kalamboli on June 3, 2006.