Adv Sadavarte remanded to police custody for 2 days in MSRTC protest row

A group of over 100 MSRTC workers staged a fierce protest outside the NCP chief's bungalow Silver Oak, taking the police by surprise, during which the lawyer was detained along with 110 workers.

Mumbai: A Mumbai court on Friday remanded advocate Gunaratna Sadavarte to police custody till April 1. He was arrested in connection with the MSRTC protest at NCP chief Sharad Pawar's residence on Friday. During the legal proceedings, the lawyer claimed that he was being falsely implicated in the case because politicians like Pawar are concerned about him 'exposing their misdeeds and corruption.'

Sadavarte is the representative lawyer of the employees of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) who have been on a strike for the past few months. A group of over 100 MSRTC workers staged a fierce protest outside the NCP chief's bungalow Silver Oak when the latter was at home, taking the police by surprise, during which the lawyer was detained along with 110 workers. The lawyer was produced before the metropolitan magistrate court today after the police claimed that he was arrested after a probe hinting at his involvement in the conspiracy to commit the crime.

Seeking his 14-day custody, special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat argued that Sadavarte had "intentionally provoked" the other accused to attack Pawar's residence. He had no reason to take the law into his hands. Gharat further submitted a transcript of Sadavarte's speech, wherein he allegedly repeatedly named Pawar and instigated them to take action against the senior politician.

"The advocate's conduct throughout shows that if he is released on bail, he will again pose a serious threat to the law and order and public," the prosecution argued. However, advocate Mahesh Vaswani, appearing for Sadavarte, opposed the remand plea, citing that there were "absolutely no grounds for custodial detention", and moved a bail plea on behalf of the accused. Vaswani submitted that Sadavarte has been framed in the case at the behest of politicians like Pawar, state Home Minister Dilip Walse Patil, and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, because of the actions of the advocate and his wife in exposing their misdeeds and corruption. "The applicant is innocent, has absolute respect for the rule of law, and has always condemned all forms of violence," Vaswani said.

He further said that the accused advocate feared that his life is in danger in custody of the state machinery, and expressed urgency in hearing the bail plea. "Sadavarte had successfully fought for the rights of the MSRTC employees and succeeded in getting them multiple rights and reliefs from the Bombay High Court," the lawyer further argued.

After hearing arguments put forth by both sides, the court remanded Sadavarte to police custody till April 11, while the other arrested accused were sent to judicial custody. The police have arrested 110 persons in connection with the attack and a case of rioting, unlawful assembly, assault, while a criminal conspiracy has been registered at Gamdevi police station.