RTI activist Arun Mane was attacked at Talegaon-Dabhade near Pune on Sunday morning. This incident comes in less than a year since Mr Mane’s close colleague and RTI activist Satish Shetty was brutally murdered.
The police stated that the preliminary investigations have revealed that an unidentified person who masqueraded as a customer entered Mr Mane’s shoe shop at around 8.30 am on Sunday. The assailant entered the shop and attacked Mr Mane with a sharp weapon while he was seated inside. The assailants escaped from the spot after inflicting injuries on his head. Mr Mane was then rushed to the Intensive Care Unit of a local hospital where his condition is stated to be stable.
Mr Mane was a close associate of slain RTI activist Satish Shetty. Mane had sought police protection as he had been receiving threats from unidentified persons. Mr Mane had also complained to the Talegaon police last week after unidentified persons threatened him at gunpoint for pursuing Satish Shetty’s cases. “We had granted him police protection but he had refused it for the last two days saying that he was going out for personal work. The exact sequence of events will be ascertained after his statement is recorded,” said Pratap Dighavkar, superintendent of police, Pune (rural). “Mr Mane works for the bhrasthchar virodhi chalval (anti-corruption movement) with whom Satish was associated with. Mr Mane had helped Satish in many RTI cases and was aware of all the cases filed by him. Mr Mane was working on Talegaon land scams which Satish had been pursuing,” said Sandeep Shetty, brother of Satish Shetty.
Meanwhile, Madhav Kamble, the president of the anti-corruption movement, confirmed that Mr Mane was spearheading the RTI cases filed by Satish Shetty and hence this attack could be a case of revenge.
38-year-old Satish Shetty, who had been fearlessly wielding the RTI Act to expose various scams in the Pune district, Talegaon and Lonavala, was brutally murdered at his village Talegaon in January 2010. Satish Shetty had worked with anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare for seven years. Six persons, including a lawyer, were arrested for murdering Satish Shetty.
“I was following two RTI cases filed by Satish Shetty. I don’t know who attacked me,” said Mr Mane