Shaktiman case: BJP MLA arrested, sent to jail
BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi was today arrested and sent to 14-day judicial custody by a court here for allegedly assaulting and causing injuries to police horse ‘Shaktiman’ during a protest march which led to amputation of one of its hind legs.
IG Garhwal range Sanjay Gunjyal said Joshi was arrested from outside a hotel in Patel Nagar area on the basis of an FIR lodged against him and his associates at Nehru Colony police station here in connection with the assault on the horse on March 14.
The Mussoorie MLA was later produced in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Vikasnagar Laxman Singh who sent him to 14 days’ judicial remand, SSP Sadanad Date said, adding that Joshi has been taken to Suddhowala prison.
The action against Joshi comes a day after the arrest of another party worker Pramod Bora from Haldwani in Nainital district.
Date said Bora along with Joshi was responsible for precipitating the fall of the police horse during the protest march which caused multiple fractures in its left hind leg.
Shaktiman’s injured leg had to be amputated by a team of doctors yesterday to save him from infection. He can now stand with the help of a prosthetic leg, the SSP said.
However, doctors attending on Shaktiman said it will have to be seen whether the prop is strong enough to support the horse which weighs around 400 kgs.
Expert veterinary doctor from Mumbai Feroze Khambatta, who led a team of doctors to amputate Shaktiman’s leg, said he had performed eight similar operations in Nepal and Bhutan but those horses weighed around 200 kgs.
As Shaktiman weighs 400 kgs it is not clear for how long he can stand and move with an artificial leg, he said, adding the horse is under constant watch of doctors and over two dozen police personnel at the police lines.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly and state BJP president Ajay Bhatt condemned the way Joshi had been arrested.
He also sought Governor K K Paul’s intervention into the matter as the MLA had been arrested without taking permission of Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal when the House is in session.
