NAGPUR: Former Maharashtra Home Minister and NCP (SP) leader Anil Deshmukh was seriously injured after stones were hurled at his car in Nagpur district on Monday night, police said.
The incident occurred around 8 pm when Deshmukh was returning to Katol after attending a meeting in Narkhed village.
Some unidentified persons threw stones at Deshmukh's car near Belphata on the Jalalkheda Road near Katol.
Deshmukh, who sustained injuries during the attack, was immediately rushed to the Katol Civil Hospital, police said.
Nagpur Rural Superintendent of Police, Harssh Poddar, confirmed the incident.
He said senior officers were rushed to the spot.
"An investigation has begun. Police are trying to identify those responsible for the attack," he said.
The NCP condemned the attack and said its is an example of the "complete failure of law and order" in the state.
"...Democracy is being destroyed. An example of this came out today in the form of a cowardly attack on Anil Deshmukh, the former home minister of the state and the leader of the Nationalist Congress Party while returning home from an election meet," the NCP wrote in a post on X along with a video showing Deshmukh with blood dripping from an injury on his head.
Condemning the incident, NCP (SP) spokesperson Vedprakash Arya sought a high-level inquiry and police protection for the former minister.
"Some people attacked Anil Deshmukh's car in Belfata Bhishnur in Katol, wherein Deshmukh received serious head injury. His treatment started in Katol but due to serious injury he is shifted to Nagpur for treatment," Arya said in a statement.
The Mahayuti coalition is staring at a crushing defeat and, therefore, resorted to such a cowardly attack, he said.
Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat also condemned the attack and called it "fatal."
"The fact that a former home minister was assaulted in Nagpur district of State Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis raises the question of whether there is rule of law or goons in the state?" Thorat asked in an X post written in Marathi.
"Law and order in the state has deteriorated and for fair and transparent elections, the Election Commission should intervene immediately and take steps to ensure that law and order remains smooth," Thorat added.
The attack occurred on the last day of campaigning for the November 20 Maharashtra assembly elections.
Deshmukh's son Salil Deshmukh is contesting from the Katol assembly constituency on the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) ticket against BJP's Charansingh Thakur.