4 held, cross FIRs filed as NCP bigwigs in pre-civic poll battle

MUMBAI: Senior National Congress Party leader Nawab Malik and Sanjay Dina Patil have been named in cross FIRs registered by Deonar police on Wednesday night.
Police have arrested four persons from both sides and booked them under Indian Penal Code sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (assault), 506 (2) (threatening) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace).Malik and Patil, who crossed swords over selection of candidates for the coming civic elections, have been shown as absconding accused. Irar Maniyar (42) and Latif Shaikh (30) have been admitted to Rajawadi hospital, while five others sustained minor injuries.
There is confusion over whether any of them fired two rounds in air. While Malik alleged he saw Patil’s men with guns, and he heard the sound of gunfire, police rubbished this. Police seized two weapons of Patil’s bodyguard and sent them to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to determine if bullets were fired.
Malik, the senior most party member, had on Tuesday held an internal meeting with NCP workers at Madhukar Tukaram Kadam Marg, Govandi, to select a candidate from ward 141. Police said there had been differences between Malik and Patil over selection of the candidate. “Since morning, Patil had been calling NCP workers and telling them not to attend the meeting. In the afternoon, Patil told me not to attend the meeting. He threatened to expose me if I attended it. It was a well-planned conspiracy,” said Malik.
But Patil said, “After talks with Sachin Ahir, I was told to attend the meeting. When I went inside, Malik’s people got angry and assaulted my men with swords. They came to attack me, when my police bodyguards had to remove their weapons to scare the mob,” said Patil.
Police said within half an hour of the meeting, Patil and his associates barged in and shouted slogans against Malik. Few persons barged in, armed with swords, and started beating up people. When Malik’s followers retaliated, Patil’s men allegedly whipped out revolvers. “There was a clash between Malik and Patil’s men with swords, but there was no firing. We are verifying it from witnesses and we are going through CCTV footage,” said Shahji Umap, deputy commissioner of police (zone VI).