Maharashtra Police detains 107 state transport workers for protesting outside Sharad Pawar's house

107 state transport workers were detained by Mumbai Police after massive protests erupted outside Sharad Pawar's house on Friday afternoon.

Maharashtra Police on Friday detained 107 Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) workers for protesting outside Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar's residence. Out of the arrested workers, 23 are women.

The workers are on strike over their demand for the merger of the MSRTC with the state government. Thousands of MSRTC workers have been protesting since November, demanding that they be treated at par with the state government employees.

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Gunratan Sadavarte who represents the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) workers was detained by the police after the protest. Police have alleged that Sadavarte instigated the workers to protest outside Pawar’s house.

Sadavarte’s wife Jaishree Patil confirmed on Friday that he was arrested by Mumbai police for encouraging an unlawful assembly of the workers (IPC 141 and 149). He is also charged for assaulting a public servant (IPC 353 and 332), trespassing (IPC 448 and 452), and criminal conspiracy (IPC 120B).