Court declines police plea for custody of NCP(SP) leader Lawande; sends him in JC

A local court has remanded NCP spokesperson Vikas Lawande in judicial custody till June 6, rejecting police remand over his controversial statements about Warkari sect leaders.

A local court on Friday remanded NCP (SP) spokesperson Vikas Lawande, arrested over his controversial statements about some leaders of the Warkari sect, in judicial custody till June 6 while holding that there were no sufficient grounds for police remand.

Police, meanwhile, conceded that they inadvertently mentioned the wrong crime number in an earlier reply opposing the interim protection from arrest.

Following his arrest on Thursday, police produced Lawande before the court and sought his custody for three days. The investigators wanted to probe the motive behind his statements and whether he had received any financial support to make those statements, the prosecution said.

But the court observed that no sufficient grounds were made out for police remand, and directed that the accused be sent in judicial custody.

His lawyer Milind Pawar claimed that the arrest was illegal as the police did not serve him a prior notice. ''He was arrested first and served the notice later,'' Advocate Pawar stated.

Further, while opposing Lawande's plea seeking extension of interim protection from arrest on May 20, police mentioned an incorrect case registration number to cite his past record, the lawyer said.

''Police mentioned case number 33/2017 instead of 32/2017, which shows that they tried to mislead the court,'' Pawar alleged.

Speaking to PTI, inspector Nandkumar Gaikwad of Wagholi police station said the wrong crime registration number was inadvertently mentioned in the police reply.

The present FIR against Lawande is based on his statement where he allegedly termed some Warkari sect leaders as ''intruders''.

On May 9, 'kirtankar' (devotional preacher) Sangram Bhandare and his followers allegedly threw black ink on Lawande who has been vocal against figures such as Dhirendra Krishna Shastri, Kali Charan, Pradeep Sharma and Swami Anand Swaroop, accusing them of being ''infiltrators'' from North India brought into Maharashtra by the BJP and RSS.