NAGPUR: Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh suffered serious head wounded Monday after his vehicle was attacked with stones and boulders on Katol-Jalalkheda road while returning from a campaign in Narkhed for his son Salil Deshmukh, who is contesting the assembly elections on an NCP (Sharad Pawar) ticket. Deshmukh was rushed to a local hospital in Katol , considered his bastion, before being shifted to a private facility in Nagpur for further treatment. Eyewitnesses reported that attackers threw stones at the vehicle while shouting political slogans.
A boulder was found on the bonnet and another stone recovered from under the driver's seat, next to where Deshmukh was seated. The windscreen was shattered. Sources said Deshmukh's security team was trailing him in a separate vehicle and was unable to respond immediately.
The attack has sparked tensions in Katol, with the video of a bleeding Deshmukh going viral. Supporters of the former minister gathered at Katol police station, demanding immediate arrest of the attackers. NCP (Sharad Pawar) MP Supriya Sule condemned the attack on social media.
She wrote: "In the past, Maharashtra has never witnessed such attacks during election times, as we value democratic principles. However, in BJP 's tenure, law and order in the state, particularly in Nagpur district, has deteriorated, and goons are roaming freely..
." State Congress chief Nana Patole indirectly blamed BJP for the attack. "BJP is getting apprehensive of losing the.
