Three have been arrested in Maharashtra after one of them threw ink at the state’s higher and technical education minister Chandrakant Patil at Pimpri Chinchwad town in Pune. 10 police personnel have also been suspended over the security lapse.

The incident occurred a day after Patil made statements that BR Ambedkar and Jyotirao Phule did not seek government grants for educational institutions and that they “begged” people to gather funds for starting schools and colleges.

The arrested have been identified as Manoj Bhaskar Gharbade and Dhananjay Bhausaheb Ijgaj, members of Samata Sainik Dal, and Vijay Dharma Ovhal, a member of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi groups.

According to the police, the incident took place when the minister was departing from the house of another party leader on Saturday. While one of the accused allegedly threw ink at the minister’s face, the other two began sloganeering.

“An offence in this regard has been registered at Chinchwad police station under Indian Penal Code sections 307 (attempt to murder), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 500 (defamation), 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory), 120B (criminal conspiracy),” the police said in a statement, according to Scroll.in.

Patil’s remarks have been criticised by the members of the Nationalist Congress Party, the Congress, and the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray). Addressing the media later, Patil retorted, “Some people distorted my statement and attacked me in a cowardly manner. This was a planned attack. I will submit evidence to the district collector.”

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