Apparently rattled by the assault on him by unidentified persons on Sunday, 36-year-old Right To Information (RTI) activist from Talegaon-Dabhade, Arun Mane, wants to put an end to his social activism. His wife, mother, brother and friends were by his side to lend him moral support.
Talking to DNA on Monday morning, before he was discharged from a private hospital, Mane said, “I will not continue my work, as society doesn’t want it. I do not want to meet the same fate as (RTI activist) Satish Shetty, who was murdered in broad daylight in front of 30 people. Nobody came forward to help me.”
“I had filed an RTI application a month ago at the Lonavla police station seeking documents about a road infrastructure company,” Mane said. He called up the Lonavla police station 15
days ago.
“They told me they would call me up after getting the information. I wanted to continue the cases which Shetty was pursuing.”
Mane said he has been doing the RTI work for the past three years in Talegaon-Dabhade. However, he refused to say anything about elements behind the attack.
After being roughed up and threatened with sharp-edged weapons, Mane was warned by his assailants to stop following the cases pursued by Shetty.
On December 28, an unidentified person armed with a pistol had threatened and asked him not to follow the cases, following which Mane had lodged a complaint at the Talegaon-Dabhade police station. Mane said, “The police had given me protection of an armed constable.”
“On December 30, I had gone to Alibaug (in Raigad district) along with four friends in my car. I informed the police about the trip. They wanted to provide me the protection, which I denied.”
“On December 31 night, I came back to Talegaon and reported to the police about my return. The incident took place on Sunday morning,” he added.
