Mumbai, Dec 21: Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will visit Parbhani on Monday to meet the family of a Dalit youth who died under mysterious circumstances while in judicial custody last week, officials said here on Saturday.

Rahul Gandhi will reach Nanded by a special flight on Monday afternoon and from there drive to Parbhani to the home of the youth, Somnath Vyankat Suryawanshi and condole his family members.

Suryawanshi, 35, hailing from the Wadar community, was arrested in the violent incidents that ensued after the desecration of a statue of Dr B. R. Ambedkar near Parbhani Railway Station on December 10, by one ‘mentally disturbed’ person named Sopan Pawar.

After the violence, a tense shutdown was observed in Parbhani, while the local police swooped down and detained/arrested around 300 persons, mostly Dalits, including Suryawanshi on December 12.

Barely 72 hours later, he was found dead in judicial custody, sparking a massive furore with the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (SP)-Shiv Sena (UBT), Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), CPI (Marxist), Republican Party of India (A), Republican Sena, Republican Party of India (K), and many other Dalit groups slamming the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party MahaYuti regime for the incident.

Following the uproar inside the Maharashtra Legislature in Nagpur and outside, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced compensation for the bereaved family, ordered a judicial probe and appointed a Special Investigation Team of the police to get to the depth of the matter.

Earlier, the Parbhani Police had claimed that Suryawanshi had complained of chest pains and was rushed to hospital for treatment. However, a provisional autopsy report from the Government Medical College, Aurangabad had stated that he succumbed to “shock following multiple injuries”, snowballing into a huge political row.

The MVA and Dalit leaders had vociferously alleged that he was brutally beaten by the police and had succumbed to grave injuries, as was later confirmed by the provisional post-mortem report of December 16.

A uniformed policeman was seen riding triple seat on a two-wheeler, which was being ridden by a helmetless man. The vehicle carried a ‘police’ sticker and was reportedly spotted on the streets of Mumbai.

A fellow commuter who spotted this cop riding pillion and tripling on the bike captured a photo of the scene and posted it online. The photo captured the number plate of the vehicle. It read, “MH47 AE5165”.

“No helmet, triple seat…”

The photo of the policeman tripling with a helmetless biker was posted on Reddit. A user named Prasad uploaded the image online showing the cop violating traffic rules.

“No helmet, triple seat, Police named Activa and Police in uniform. What is the fine or charge? Is this legal only for the police?”, the Reddit post read.

Netizens react

The cop travelling on the third seat of a two-wheeler being ridden by a helmetless person raised eyebrows online, with many questioning the violation of traffic rules by the official.

Netizens reacted to the Reddit post and asked the user to share the image of X tagging Mumbai Police for necessary action.

“What do you mean rules? Rules are for common folks like us”, one sarcastically wrote. “Absolute power hai inke pass. It is so ironic they click pictures to fine others while riding the bike themselves endangering others”, commented another.

Fines under MV act

According to the official website of the Maharashtra government listing down offences and penalties for motorists violating traffic rules, a “driver of a two-wheeler involved in triple riding would attract Rs. 100 for first offence and Rs. 300 for second or subsequent offence as punishment”. The compounding fee under Section 200 of the Motor Vehicles Act in this case was Rs. 200.

Meanwhile, the penalty for failing to wear a protective head gear (Helmet) was stated to be Rs. 100 for first offence Rs. 300 for second or subsequent offence and the compounding fee for the offence was noted as Rs. 500.

New Delhi/Mumbai, Dec 21: Shiv Sena (UBT) Sanjay Raut has dismissed wild speculation that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies would contest the upcoming civic elections in the state independently, on Saturday.

“We are keen to bring back the SS (UBT) to power in the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to save Mumbai and prevent it from being separated from Maharashtra. Witness how these attacks have started against our (Marathi) people,” said Raut, referring to the ‘Marathi versus Migrant’ tensions.

He claimed that if the SS (UBT) fails to bag the BMC polls – among 14 other major civic bodies in the state – then the state will forfeit Mumbai, referring to hypotheses in some quarters that the country’s commercial capital may be declared a Union Territory (UT) coming under Centre’s control.

“I am not saying that we will contest the civic polls independently. It’s the feeling among our party activists. We are discussing it with them. Whether we fight the civic elections jointly or solo, it does not imply the MVA has broken up,” Raut declared.

In a guarded reaction, Congress state President Nana Patole remarked that his party would take the views of its local units before taking any decision on going solo or unitedly as MVA for the local bodies polls.

The SS(UBT) MP explained that whenever the civic elections are conducted there are rumours of political alliances snapping, it had happened when the party was allied with BJP and is speculated now, “but there’s nothing significant about it”.

“We had millions of votes cast in our favour, but they didn’t go to the intended candidate. That’s why there are several demands for a vote count, and the people of Markadwadi (Solapur) wanted to hold a mock ballot paper polling,” contended Raut.

Taking a jibe at the Mahayuti government, Raut said that “they are thanking the 14 crore people”, but forgot that all those 14 crore did not vote for them so now persons like Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde must ponder on all this.