Shiv Sena MLA Nitin Deshmukh 'roughed up' by fellow rebels in Surat hotel, lands in hospital

A rebel Shiv Sena MLA's hospitalisation after being allegedly roughed up by some of his colleagues at the Surat hotel they had checked into early on Tuesday added to the drama and intrigue of the political battle in Maharashtra playing out in neighbouring Gujarat.


Ambulance staff who moved Nitin Deshmukh, the Shiv Sena MLA from Balapur in Akola, to Surat's New Civil Hospital reported "unruly behaviour" in the hotel as they were going about their job. Sources at the hotel said there was "a scene" when Deshmukh reportedly said he wanted to leave.

"He called me around 3am, saying he was standing at a crossing and asked me to come and pick him up. He got my number from Shiv Sena leaders in Mumbai," Paresh Kher, a former Shiv Sena worker in Surat, told TOI.

Senior Shiv Sena neta Sanjay Raut told TOI, "Deshmukh and four other MLAs were thrashed at the hotel when they tried to leave. His wife has lodged a missing complaint here."