The power struggle in Chandrapur Municipal Corporation (CMC) between MLA Vijay Wadettiwar and MP Pratibha Dhanorkar turned murkier after supporters from Dhanorkar camp allegedly tried to kidnap six newly-elected corporators from the Wadettiwar group on the Samruddhi Expressway near Yelakeli Toll Plaza in Wardha district. The corporators were returning from Pune when their bus was stopped and they were allegedly subjected to verbal abuse and also given death threats on Thursday early morning. Rajesh Adoor, a corporator from the Vijay Wadettiwar faction in CMC, his wife Ashwini, Sachin Katyal, Vasant Deshmukh, Sofia Khan, Karishma Jangal, and Abdul Karim Shaikh, had gone on a pleasure trip to Pune and nearby places.

 

They were returning to Chandrapur on January 29 in a private travels bus (MH-40/CP-9924). It was 5.45 am when the bus was close to Yelakeli Toll Plaza, Channel No 60/600 of the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway and suddenly some 5-6 cars came in front of the bus, forcing the driver to apply sudden brakes. Some 15 men came out of the cars and entered the bus and asked the six corporators to get down and sit in the cars with them. When corporators refused the accused started abusing them verbally and also threatened them with die consequences. Meanwhile, the incident created panic among the other passengers.

 

The accused fled the scene after threatening the corporators, but passengers managed to catch one of them. he has been identified as Kaneen Shamim Siddiqui (21), a resident of Ghugus in Chandrapur district. Siddiqui was handed over to the police wher spilled out the names of Majammil Khan, Jasim Khan, Alok Rohidas, Adnan Sheikh and a youth named Saurabh, a resident of Mankapur in Nagpur and others. Later, corporator Rajesh Adoor lodged a complaint in Sawangi Police Station against 12 accused including Saurabh Thombre, Kaneen Shamim Siddiqui, Muzammil Khan, Jasim Khan, Alok Rohidas, and Adnan Shaikh, all allegedly from Dhanorkar faction. Sawangi police reached the spot as soon as they got information. The case is being investigated under the guidance of SHO Pankaj Waghode. Looking at the seriousness of the incident, Wardha’s Superintendent of Police Saurabh Agarwal, Sub-Divisional Police Officer Pramod Makeshwar and Sawangi Police Station Officer Pankaj Waghode visited the spot. A search has been launched for the accused. He revealed the names of some of the accused. More names are likely to emerge during the investigation. The Sawangi police team is searching for the accused.

 

 

The 63-member House of Chandrapur Municipal Corporation has 30 members from the Congress party and three from the Shiv Sena (UBT).The Congress party has majority in the House. However, a power struggle has been going on for some time between Congress’ MP Pratibha Dhanorkar and former State Minister Vijay Wadettiwar. This incident is allegedly result of that struggle.