Nagpur: The Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court has stayed the conviction order of the lower court against Sunil Chhatrapal Kedar, Congress MLA from Saoner, and three others.
Kedar and others were sentenced to one year rigorous imprisonment by District Court on January 13 after charges of assault and voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from discharging his duty were substantiated against them in a 2016 case.
Justice Anil Pansare granted bail to the accused persons and allowed the appeal for interim relief. Besides former Minister Kedar, others convicted are Manohar Shankar Kumbhare, a resident of Nandikheda; Vaibhav Arun Ghonge, a resident of Borgaon; and Dadarao Lekram Deshmukh, a resident of Telkamdi, taluka Kalmeshwar.
The MahaTransco had undertaken the work to install a high tension line from the towers erected at the agricultural fields of one Habibbhai and others at Telgaon to transmit electricity from Koradi Thermal Power Station to its point of distribution. On October 6, 2016, Amol Khubalkar, an engineer from MahaTransco, his staff and others from the contractor’s side had gone to meet the farmers in the area to discuss the crop loss due to installation of the towers and compensation to them.
In the meantime, MLA Kedar, Kumbhare, Ghonge, and Deshmukh along with their 20 supporters reached the spot. They asked Khubalkar and others as to who granted them permission for the work. After an argument with Khubalkar, his staff and an officer from the company to which the contract was awarded, MLA Kedar, Kumbhare, Ghonge, and Deshmukh thrashed them. They allegedly threatened them of dire consequences if they were seen in the area again.
