MUMBAI, January 18: Shiv Sena Thane district Chief Anand Dighe was today arrested along with the party candidate and Thane's sitting MP Prakash Paranjpe for violating the model code of conduct laid down by the Election Commission.The police also arrested local Sena corporator Pandurang Patil after a complaint of the violation of the code was registered at the Thane police station.
Among those who were included in the complaint were Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Pramod Mahajan, Thane Mayor Vijaya Deshmukh and the BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Prof Ram Kapse. However, there were no reports of their arrests. Paranjpe and Patil were as well released on personal bonds later in the evening, police added. The arrests of Dighe and Paranjpe came after two continuous days of complaints against them including by 10 corporators from Thane for violating electoral norms.
According to police, all the three had participated in a programme to lay foundation stone for development projects in a city recently. Moreover,the Thane Municipal Corporation was also believed to have acted on the behest of corporators and Dighe to suspend three engineers for various failures. These acts were seen as an attempt to influence the minds of the voters.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
