Maharashtra Police have arrested Kalicharan Maharaj for making disparaging remarks about Mahatma Gandhi

Pune: Following a transit remand order by a court in Raipur, Maharashtra Police took custody of controversial Hindu religious leader Kalicharan Maharaj on Wednesday. He was apprehended by Chhattisgarh Police from Khajurao in Madhya Pradesh on December 30 in connection with a case pertaining to alleged inflammatory speeches registered against him and five others in Maharashtra. He allegedly made disparaging remarks about Mahatma Gandhi and praised the assassin of the Father of the Nation.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Bhupendra Kumar Vasnikar has granted Maharaj’s remand to the Maharashtra Police after he was named in separate cases for making inflammatory remarks during a gathering in Pune. The Magistrate also ordered the authorities and police to bring Maharaj before a Pune court on January 6.

Following a transit remand granted by a court in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, the religious leader was being transported to Pune, where he will be produced in court later that day, according to officials.

“We have taken custody of Kalicharan from the Chhattisgarh Police and he is being brought to Pune,” a police official from Khadak was quoted as saying by PTI.

Along with Kalicharan Maharaj, Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote, Nandakishor Ekbote, Mohanrao Shete, Dipak Nagpure, and Captain Digendra Kumar were charged under sections 295 (a), 298, 505 (2), and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

Digendra Kumar, a Kargil war hero, retired from the Indian Army in 2005. In 1999, he was awarded the Mahavir Chakra (MVC) for his bravery during the Kargil war. He was one of the program’s speakers.

Kalicharan Maharaj, alias Abhijit Sarag, a resident of Shivajinagar in Akola, Maharashtra, had previously been arrested in a case in Raipur for making derogatory remarks about Mahatma Gandhi during his speech. He was recently granted bail.