A girl was beaten up by some women constables at the famous Lalbaugcha Raja Ganesh pandal here --an incident whose video went viral on social media-- prompting the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to say that the guilty will not be spared.
However, contrary to what was claimed, the preliminary probe by police indicted that the incident may have taken place earlier and not on last Friday.
"This is a serious matter. The guilty won't be spared," Fadnavis told PTI this evening.
The initial probe however suggested that the video is an old one, DCP (Detection 1) Mohan Dahikar said.
"The city police chief has taken a suo-moto cognisance of the incident and the victim girl seen in the video has also been identified," said Dahikar, adding that those who uploaded the video on the internet had claimed it happened on Friday.
The girl's name has been withheld and her statement will be recorded by the police, informed Dahikar, saying that the probe by the zonal DCP is on.
"We have called for a report from the police within 48 hours. In these 48 hours, we will also ensure that action is taken if anybody is found to be guilty. This is a very serious incident and we will ensure that no person who is guilty of manhandling is spared," Fadnavis said earlier in the day.
The reason for roughing up the girl, believed to be in her early 20s, is yet to be ascertained, but preliminary investigations reveal that the victim had come for the darshan of Lalbaugcha Raja and was trying to gatecrash from the VIP entry when she was caught and beaten up.
Lalbaugcha Raja Ganesh pandal in central Mumbai attracts lakhs of devotees during the 10-day Ganesh festival which ended yesterday.
