After Writer Sudheendra Kulkarni, Shiv Sena Workers Now Blacken Face Of RTI Activist

MUMBAI -- Shiv Sena workers on Friday assaulted and blackened the face of a Right to Information activist at Latur in Maharashtra's Marathwada region, after he "exposed" an illegal construction case.

The activist Mallikarjun Bhaikatti had, through an RTI query, revealed that around 14,000 square feet illegal construction was carried out in a four-storeyed building and boys hostel on the Latur-Nanded road.

Bhaikatti had addressed a press conference at Latur yesterday to "expose" the illegal construction, police said.

The Sena workers brought Bhaikatti to the college premises today when around 4,000 students were present and assaulted him with an iron rod, before blackening his face.

The injured RTI activist has been admitted to a hospital in Latur.

Local Sena activist Abhay Salunke said Bhaikatti was a "blackmailer".

Earlier this month, Sena workers had blackened the face of Sudheendra Kulkarni, chairman of the Observer Research Foundation, in an ink attack ahead of the launch of Neither a Hawk Nor a Dove: An Insider's Account of Pakistan's Foreign Relations authored by former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri.

sudeendra kulkarni