MUMBAI, July 26: In a surprise move, Rajendra Agarwal, alias Gupta the man who declared he was asked by Congress leader Chhagan Bhujbal to desecrate the Ambedkar statue in Ramabai Nagar -- was presented by the crisis-ridden Shiv Sena to members of the fourth estate.

Accompanied by senior Shiv Sena leader Subhash Desai, advocate Varsha Palav and a battery of armed security officials, a visibly confused Agarwal claimed to have made factual errors in his earlier affidavit submitted to Commissioner of Police S C Malhotra on July 21.

``In my earlier affidavit dated July 21, I had erroneously mentioned that I had met Bhujbal at his residence on July 8. Now I am correcting my earlier version. I had, in fact, met him on July 9 after he addressed a rally of slum dwellers at Kala Ghoda. I filed the affidavit on my own to expose politicians like Bhujbal. No one instigated me,'' Agarwal asserted.

`Correcting' his version, he said he was in a jeep which was followed by Bhujbal's car. Bhujbal had asked to meet him at his official bungalow in the evening, he added.

The error of date probably crept in due to the enormous tension under which the affidavit was written, Agarwal said in his defence. He said no political leaders were present when he had visited Bhujbal's residence on July 1.

Ever since he submitted the affidavit, Agarwal was in constant touch with top Shiv Sena leaders. Though his whereabouts were officially not known, he was reportedly staying in a hotel in Bandra East. Incidentally, Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's residence is also located in the same area.

``Though I was in the Shiv Sena earlier, I joined the Congress five years ago and I am still in the same party. Since no one in the Congress would have dared accompany me to today's meeting, I sought the help of Shiv Sena leader Subhash Desai,'' Agarwal said.

When asked why Bhujbal chose him to desecrate Ambedkar's bust, Agarwal said Bhujbal probably thought he (Agarwal) had the courage required to perform such a task.

Replying to a question, Agarwal said after Bhujbal's directive, he was so disturbed that instead of lodging a complaint immediately either with the police or the Chief Minister, he left for Shahada, his native place, by the evening bus. ``I never thought that after my refusal, someone else would carry out the job. I was shocked when I came to know about the incident and the subsequent police firing on July 12,'' he added.

Referring to the series of criminal cases against him, Agarwal said barring two cases, all other charges against him have been dropped by the concerned courts. ``The two pending cases are a result of political vengeance,'' he claimed.

Earlier in the morning, Agarwal, accompanied by Desai, called on Governor P C Alexander to submit a memorandum. ``It was essential to arrest an evil person like Bhujbal to prevent the sullying of Maharashtra's image,'' Agarwal told the Governor. He urged the Governor to take a serious note of the crimes committed by Bhujbal and sack him from the post of leader of opposition in the Legislative Council.

Meanwhile, Bhujbal has threatened to launch criminal proceedings against Shiv Sena chief and Saamna executive editor Bal Thackeray for ``carrying a defamatory report alleging that he had planned the desecration of Dr B R Ambedkar's statue''. Legal notices have also been served on Saamna editor Sanjay Raut and on Agarwal. The notices, sent by advocate P Janardhan, asked all three persons to publish an unconditional apology within five days in the newspaper or face action for offence committed under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code.

The report had lowered Bhujbal's image in the eyes of the public and caused him considerable harm, the notices said adding that Agarwal had allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy with known or unknown persons to fabricate false evidence against him for the purpose of defamation.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.