Sahitya Academy and Padma Shri awardee Dalit writer and former MLC Laxman Mane, who has been arrested in a case of sexually exploiting six staffers of an ashramshala in Satara district, had to be hospitalised on Monday night. He had complained of high blood pressure. Later in the evening, he was produced before a court in Satara and remanded in police custody till Friday.
Mane, who was at large for the past two weeks, surrendered before the police on Monday, a day after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar opined that Mane should face legal action. Mane was being questioned late on Monday night when he complained of uneasiness and chest pain. The police promptly took him to Satara Civil Hospital.
A check-up by doctors at Satara Civil Hospital revealed that Mane’s blood pressure had shot up. That prompted the hospital authorities to get him admitted. Mane was in hospital for most part of Monday night and daytime on Tuesday.
Late on Tuesday afternoon, the doctors announced that Mane’s health had improved and Mane was discharged from the hospital. The police then took him in their custody and he was escorted to the court at Rajwada in Satara for remand hearing.
The courtroom was jam packed when Mane reached there. Additional police force had been deployed for security.
The prosecutor sought Mane’s custody saying, “Mane went absconding after the first case was lodged against him. The police want to question him to trace whereabouts of his alleged accomplice Manisha Gurav. Some documents related to Mane’s ashramshala are also to be recovered.”
Mane’s lawyer SM Sakhare submitted, “The offence allegedly took place some five years ago and there is little evidence against Mane. The police has already seized documents of the ashramshala. Mane was not absconding.”
@dna
