Protest outside Pawar's home: Advocate Sadavarte denied bail

A magistrate court in Mumbai on Saturday denied bail to advocate Gunaratna Sadavarte who was arrested in connection with a protest by around 100 MSRTC staffers outside NCP chief Sharad Pawar's residence here on April 8.

Sadavarte, who claims to represent the striking employees of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), was arrested soon after the protest.

His bail plea was rejected by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (Girgaon court) Jaywant Chandrakant Yadav, though a detailed order has not been made available as yet.

Opposing the bail plea, special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat submitted that the maximum punishment for the one of the offences Sadavarte has been booked for is life imprisonment and, hence, bail cannot be granted by the magistrate court.

Gharat further argued that Sadavarte's wife, also an accused in the case, is absconding, adding that granting bail to Sadavarte would hamper the probe.

Sadavarte, during an earlier hearing, had claimed he has been ''falsely implicated'' in case by Pawar and other politicians for ''exposing their misdeeds and corruptions.