Navi Mumbai: Several workers of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) have been booked by Vashi Police for staging an unlawful protest and creating a ruckus inside the Navi Mumbai Municipal Hospital. The protest was in response to an incident where a contractual hospital employee allegedly extorted Rs. 2,000 from the relatives of a deceased person for wrapping the body in cloth at the morgue.
Following public outrage and the viral spread of the incident on social media, the hospital administration immediately terminated the services of the concerned employee. However, dissatisfied with the action taken, a group of MNS workers—identified as Sagar Vichare, Sanjay Shirke, Sagar Tambe, Santosh Motsing, Sandesh Khambe, Pravin Mane, Shailesh Pachange, Akshay Trimukhe, Sangeeta Wanjare, Deepali Dhaul, and around 10 to 15 others—forcefully entered the hospital premises without legal permission or prior notice.
The group barged into the office of Medical Superintendent Dr. Rajesh Mhatre and began protesting aggressively. Despite being informed by Dr. Mhatre that the staff member had already been dismissed, the protestors allegedly used abusive language, threatened him, and attempted to physically assault him, said police.
In a symbolic act of protest, they forcibly draped a white cloth—typically used for covering the deceased—around Dr. Mhatre’s neck, while shouting slogans and clapping.
Security personnel attempted to intervene but were reportedly pushed aside. The protestors further demanded Dr. Mhatre’s resignation and continued to insult him using vulgar and disrespectful language. The group also recorded the incident and circulated the video on social media and to the press, causing significant embarrassment and reputational damage to both Dr. Mhatre and the municipal hospital.
Following the incident, Dr. Mhatre filed a complaint with Vashi Police. Acting on the complaint, police registered a case against the involved MNS workers under relevant sections of the BNS for obstructing government work, as well as under Section 4 of the Medical Service Persons and Medical Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage or Loss to Property) Act, 2010.
"Further legal proceedings have begun. We are in the process of serving notices to all involved in the crime," a police officer from Vashi police station said.
