Union minister Raosaheb Danve on Wednesday urged the public representatives not to protect goons and anti-social elements found harassing traders and industrialists.
The BJP MP was speaking at a Diwali event organised by the Marwari Charitable Foundation here.
"Some anti-social elements harass traders and industrialists and extort money from them. This creates panic among the members of the business community. Public representatives should not protect such anti-social elements," he said.
Narrating an incident, he said, "A goon was trying to extort money from an industrialist. When I got to know about it, being an MP, I asked the police to take action against the goon. The police then severely thrashed him."