Farmers' leader Raju Shetty gets magisterial custody

A local court in the district remanded farmers' leader Raju Shetty in magisterial custody after police formally arrested him in connection with Monday's violent protests by farmers in western Maharashtra.

"Yesterday, Raju Shetty refused to take bail. So, Judicial Magistrate (First Class) of Indapur sent him to the magisterial custody till November 24. The situation in the district is now under control," said Pune (Rural) SP Manoj Lohiya.

A farmer was killed in police firing in Sangli district after a group of peasants tried to lock a police team inside a hotel at Nandre village after learning that Shetty was detained in Pune district.

Shetty, an MP and 'Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna' leader was spearheading the agitation of farmers against refusal of cooperative sugar factories in Sangli, Satara and Kolhapur districts of western Maharashtra to give Rs 3,000 per ton as first advance on sugarcane purchase this season.

Factories have agreed to pay Rs 2,300 per ton.

Shetty's detention yesterday sparked largescale violence with protesting farmers torching two state transport buses and a police jeep in Pune district, Lohiya had said.

Several buses were damaged in the protests.

Farmers had staged road blockades at various places in western Maharashtra as per the appeal made by Raju Shetty.

Meanwhile, Shetty was lodged in Yerawada Central Jail in Pune, said Jail Superintendent Yogesh Desai.

Services of state transport buses remained suspended in Sangli district today in the wake of the violence and police firing.