Sambhaji Bhide visits memorial at Vadu Budruk with followers

Pune: Shiva Partisthan president Sambhaji Bhide visited the Sambhaji Maharaj memorial at Vadhu Budruk village with his 25 followers on Saturday, nine days after the muted observation of the 203rd anniversary of the Koregaon Bhima battle at Perne village.
Bhide was booked for allegedly inciting the January 1, 2018, riots at Koregaon Bhima and adjoining hamlets.The Pune rural police had booked over 200 people for the violence in which one person was killed, while many vehicles and shops were torched.
Superintendent of police (Pune rural) Abhinav Deshmukh told TOI on Saturday that Bhide had gone to Ahmednagar for some work with his followers. While returning, they went to Vajewadi village near Shikrapur.
“Bhide, with a group of 25 workers, then visited the memorial and sat there for a while. When the police told them to leave, they left,” he said.
Deshmukh said every year, as a precautionary measure, the police restrain 150 people, including Bhide, from visiting the victory pillar of Koregaon Bhima and the Sambhaji Maharaj memorials at Vadhu Budruk and Tulapur villages. The restriction remains effective between December 27 and January 2.