New Delhi: Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vinayak Ambekar has told police that a group of people from the Nationalist Congress Party had entered his office in Pune and allegedly slapped him.

A Khada police station official said that a non-cognizable (NC) offence has been registered against four people and further probe was underway.

Ambekar has claimed that NCP workers had come to his office on Saturday, May 14 seeking tax consultation and had then hit and abused him.

According to NDTV, the Maharashtra state BJP spokesperson was allegedly slapped by the NCP workers for posting comments against party chief and veteran politician Sharad Pawar. A video of the attack was posted by the state BJP president Chandrakant Patil.

"Maharashtra Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Pvt. Vinayak Ambekar has been attacked by NCP goons and on behalf of BJP, I strongly condemn this attack. These NCP goons must be dealt with immediately!" reads a rough translation of the Marathi caption.

The video showed the BJP leader having an altercation with some men while he was seated on his desk. In the middle of the argument, one of them slapped him.

On Saturday, May 14, Marathi actor Ketaki Chitale and a student, Nikhil Bhamre, were booked for allegedly sharing objectionable posts on Pawar.

Also read: Right-Wing Spreads Hatred, Takes Advantage of Religious Fault Lines: Pawar to Koregaon Bhima Panel

Chitale’s Facebook post in Marathi makes no direct mention of the NCP chief’s full name. The post in Marathi was written by someone else, which Chitale allegedly shared on Facebook on Friday, May 13. Chitale's post mentions the surname ‘Pawar’ and the age of 80. The NCP patriarch is 81-year-old. Comments like “hell is waiting” and “you hate Brahmins” are part of the post that allegedly criticises the veteran leader, whose party shares power in Maharashtra with the Shiv Sena and the Congress.

The 23-year-old student, Nikhil Bhamre, who allegedly made an objectionable comment against Pawar on Twitter, is a resident of Satana in Nashik and was arrested by Dindori Police. In his tweet, he had allegedly said that the time had come to create “Baramati’s Nathuram Godse for the Gandhi of Baramati”. He had, however, not mentioned the name of any leader or political party in the tweet.

While an offence was registered against Chitale, the police arrested the student in question.

On Monday, May 16, three more cases were registered against her – two in Mumbai and one in Akola district. Earlier, cases were filed against the 29-year-old TV actor in Thane, Pune and Dhule districts in connection with the online post.

A Thane court on Monday remanded the actor in police custody till May 18. While Ms Chitale was arrested by the Thane police, Bhamre was arrested in Nashik.

(With inputs from PTI)

The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.