NCP MP Udayanraje Bhosale surrenders before police

Mumbai: The Satara police on Tuesday morning arrested Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Udayanraje Bhosale, a descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, after he surrendered before it in connection with an extortion case registered against him. Bhosale was wanted in the case for the past couple of weeks and following his arrest, officials also collected his voice samples.

Bhosale was produced before the Sessions Court after his surrender. The court sent him to judicial custody and, after he moved a bail plea, granted him interim relief.

“We have taken Bhosale’s voice sample. We did not need his custody for investigation. The court will now hear the case on August 2,” said Sandip Patil, superintendent of police, Satara.

The case pertains to an alleged extortion bid on a Lonand-based businessman. Bhosale, who is a head of Sona Allies Labour Union, has been demanding higher wages from owners of Sona Alloys, a firm that manufactures bricks from raw iron in Lonand in Satara district.

In his complaint, the manager-owner of Sona Alloys, Rajkumar Jain, claimed that Bhosale summoned him on February 18 to his guesthouse in Satara and assaulted him and stole money and other documents from him.

The police registered a case under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for extortion and assault against Bhosale and his aides and arrested nine people, however the MP was not arrested for months.

Investigators stated that there are two unions in Sona Alloys, one of which is headed by Bhosale and the other by Ramraje Nimbalkar. The workers affiliated to Nimbalkar’s union were allegedly getting more work as compared to Bhosale’s union.

Irked over this, Bhosale summoned Jain and his personal assistant and threatened them, asking them to pay Rs 2 lakh per month as protection money.

Bhosale’s Murky Past

Bhosale, a two-time NCP MP and 13th descendent of Maratha emperor Shivaji Maharaj, has been controversial figure through out his political career. Mr Bhosale was charged in sensational murder case of NCP councillor Sharad Lehve by the CBI but got acquitted.

Bhosale was the minister of state for revenue in the previous Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena government. Mr Lehve, a Nationalist Congress Party activist and a member of the Satara Municipal Council, was stabbed to death by a mob on September 11, 1999 on the eve of the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. He was a supporter of Udyanraje’s uncle, NCP candidate Abhaysing Bhosale.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had investigated the case and filed a chargesheet against Bhosale and 15 others in December 1999.

Bhosale, in his defence, maintained that he was not present at the scene of the crime and his uncle and his son, with whom he has a running political feud, had fabricated the entire case.

Later, a district court acquitted Bhosale and 15 others allegedly involved, citing lack of evidence.