Uddhav pats attackers

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, October 13

The six Shiv Sena activists who were arrested on Monday for assaulting Sudheendra Kulkarni for organising former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri’s book launch in Mumbai were today felicitated by party chief Uddhav Thackeray.

The six activists, Gajanan Patil, Dinesh Prasad, Ashok Waghmare, Prakash Husbe, Samadhan Jadhav and Venkatesh Nair, were received by Uddhav at his residence Matoshree shortly after they were released on bail this morning.

According to Shiv Sena leaders, Thackeray praised them for meticulously planning and carrying out the attack on Kulkarni while he was leaving home to meet Kasuri.

Sources here say Patil, who is the ‘vibhag pramukh’ of the party in the central Mumbai’s Sion area, was tasked with carrying out the attack by senior party leaders shortly after Kulkarni met Thackeray on Sunday. During the meeting, Kulkarni insisted that the Observer Research Foundation he heads would go ahead with the event despite the Shiv Sena leader’s objections.

At least, one Shiv Sena MLA is said to have been co-ordinating with Patil to carry out the attack, according to sources.