Cricket prodigy Pranav Dhanawade's brush with law

Fifteen-year-old Pranav Dhanawade from Kalyan, who took the cricket world by storm with his 1,000-run world record knock in a local game in Mumbai in January 2016, was on Saturday detained by the police after he allegedly got into a spat with them on being prevented from practising on a ground being used as a makeshift helipad for a Union minister's visit to the city.

Pranav's father Prashant alleged that he and his son were taken to Bazarpeth police station in Kalyan and detained on Saturday evening. The police, however, said that though Pranav and his father had 'misbehaved with police constables' at Subhash Maidan in Kalyan, nobody had been detained.

According to the police, the constables were guarding a temporary helipad at the ground meant for the arrival of Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar. The minister will be visiting the city on Sunday for a couple of events in Dombivli and Bhiwandi.

According to Prashant, the incident took place at 5 pm on Saturday, when Pranav and some other young cricketers who were practising there were asked to leave for security purposes.

"The children were playing at the ground, when the policemen asked them to leave. While the children requested them to let them carry on with their fitness practice for a couple of minutes, the police denied their request.

Pranav was just standing there with the other children, and I too was present. The other children asked the police why the ground was chosen for the helipad instead of other places. They also asked for a notice or a copy of a written order from the police. When the argument heated up, we were both dragged to the police station in a police jeep. The Senior Police Inspector at the station abused us. It was only after the Assistant Commissioner of Police came to the police station, that we are asked to leave," Prashant alleged.

Denying the allegations, Senior Police Inspector of Bazarpeth police station, DS Suryawanshi said, "Minister Javadekar is going to be present in the city on Sunday. A temporary helipad was set up at the ground for his arrival."

Two of our constables were guarding the helipad and asked the children to leave the ground for security reasons. However, Pranav and his father argued, spoke very rudely and asked the constables to show them the notice.

The constables told them that the order was at the station and hence, Pranav and his father were brought to the station. Once they were shown the document, they were given a warning and asked to leave.