Amid a day-long dharna by the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the Shiv Sena, the Dadar police filed an FIR against Dadar MLA Sada Sarvankar for firing a bullet “on the ground” within the premises of the Dadar police station. The FIR for the firing incident was suo motu registered by the police against Sarvankar, his son Samadhan, Santosh Telvane, Kunal Wadekar and six others. Sarvankar has joined the Eknath Shinde faction and had taken local party workers along with him, including the vibhag pramukh Telvane.
Boiling tensions between the Thackeray and Eknath Shinde faction came to the fore on the final day of the Ganesh festival. As loyalists of the two parties participated in different processions, taking idols for immersion, they ran into each other on the road and began shouting slogans against the rival faction.
South Mumbai MP Arvind Sawant (Thackeray faction) claimed that a bullet was fired at Prabhadevi and a second time at the Dadar police station. There is no mention of a bullet being fired at Prabhadevi in the FIR filed suo motu by the police.
Sarvankar said it was around 12.15 am when he learned that people had turned up to beat Telvane (vibhag pramukh). At this time, Sarvankar allegedly fired a bullet from his revolver within the premises of the police station. “The bullet could have injured a police official, yet no FIR was registered,” alleged Sawant. Five Sainiks were named along with 25 others in the FIR lodged by Telvane. This was the first FIR to be registered for robbery, unlawful assembly, rioting, insult and criminal intimidation. Party workers, including women, soon began gathering outside the police station in large numbers shouting slogans.
