According to PTI news agency, journalist Nikhil Wagle was heading to an event on Friday when he allegedly came under attack in Pune in his car by BJP activists. Wagle’s comments criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and LK Advani during the ruling party patriarch’s Bharat Ratna award infuriated the saffron party workers.
According to an official from the Deccan police station, BJP members threw ink on the car carrying Wagle and two other people, Aseem Sarode and Vishwambhar Choudhary, who were being driven under police protection to the Rashtra Seva Dal-organized ‘Nirbhay Bano’ event in the Singhad Road area here.
Attending the event were MLA Rohit Pawar, Congress city unit head Arvind Shinde, and Prashant Jagtap of the NCP Sharadchandra Pawar party.
“Police officials said they will question me regarding the case filed for my comments on Monday,” Wagle stated.
At the Vishrambaug police station, a senior official had announced, “Wagle has been booked under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 500 (defamation), and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Following Wagle’s purported post following Bharat Ratna’s announcement to Advani labelling him and the prime minister as “rioters,” the BJP issued a threat.
“If the police don’t forbid the gathering, the head of the Pune City BJP has threatened to disrupt our Nirbhay Bano assembly at Sane Guruji Smarak tomorrow evening. This meeting, friends, is against unannounced emergencies. Wagle had stated on Thursday in a post on X, “We have to preserve our democracy.”
In the meantime, Wagle declared, “I forgive all those who attacked me,” at the public programme. This was the eighth attack on me in the previous six.