New Delhi: The Pimpri Chinchwad Police in Pune district of Maharashtra have dropped the 'attempt to murder' charge against three persons arrested for allegedly throwing ink at Bharatiya Janata Party minister Chandrakant Patil.

The suspension of 10 cops has also been revoked.

The incident had occurred in Pimpri city on Saturday, December 10, in an apparent mark of protest against minister Patil's remark that the likes of Dr B.R. Ambedkar and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule had to go "begging" for funds to set up schools and did not seek government grants. Patil later said he did not mean the word pejoratively and that he had meant they sought donations.

Three people threw ink at Patil when he was stepping out of a building. Soon afterwards, they were arrested and 10 policemen, including three officers, were suspended for this alleged security lapse.

A day after the attack, on December 11, Patil claimed that the attack had been a planned one and zeroed in on a journalist, Govind Wakade, asking how he came to be at the venue and in a position to record the incident.

“How did that journalist get the exact angle when the ink was being thrown at me? Who is that journalist? If by tomorrow morning, this journalist is not traced, I will sit on a fast at Pimpri police station,” Patil allegedly said.

Wakade was summoned to the police station and allowed to go home only late at night. Journalists and their organisations had thoroughly criticised the move. The Mumbai Press Club said that it was the “collective voice of journalists” which led to Wakade’s release.

On Monday, Patil sought the release of those who were arrested in connection with the ink attack and also demanded that the suspension of the police personnel be revoked.

"We have dropped section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in a case registered against three accused, who were held for the ink attack on Patil. However, the other sections under which they were booked, will remain," Pimpri Chinchwad Police Commissioner Ankush Shinde said on Tuesday.

The other sections invoked in the case are 120B (criminal conspiracy ), 355 (assault or use of criminal force to any person), 500 (defamation), and 34 (common intention), police said.

Two of the arrested persons are from the Samata Sainik Dal and one is a member of the Vanchit Bhaujan Aghadi, police had earlier said.

"The suspension of 10 police personnel also has been revoked," said Shinde.

(With PTI inputs)

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