Maharashtra minister refutes assault charges on PA

Maharashtra Social Justice Minister Rajkumar Badole Friday rubbished reports that his personal assistant was assaulted in his office by a proprietor of an unaided ashram school in Osmanabad district over bribery charges.

Arun Nithure, proprietor of an unaided Ashram school in Osmanabad district had on September 12 alleged that a personal assistant of Badole had demanded Rs 10 lakh bribe from him to approve his proposal.

There were reports in a section of media that there was a physical altercation between Badole's personal assistant and Nithure, when the latter had gone to the minister's third-floor office in Mantralaya to inquire about the status of his case.

In his written response to a question by NCP's Hemant Takle, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde and others, Badole, however, said, "No personal assistant of the minister was assaulted."

Reacting to the media report, leader of opposition in legislative assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil had earlier said, "If the beating up of the corrupt personal assistant of the minister for work not done even after payment of Rs 10 lakh is anything to go by, the day is not far when a similar fate could befall the minister."

Following the controversy, Badole had said that Nithure had "unsound mind" and beaten up a clerk. During the monsoon session of the Maharashtra Legislature held in Nagpur, Badole had said that he had given a notice of self-immolation to the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).