Abhishek Ghosalkar, the head of the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, was shot and killed on Thursday night in Mumbai during a “Facebook Live” by a local “social activist” who then took his own life, according to the police.
In the Banbhoolpura region of the Haldwani district of Uttarakhand, communal tensions rose over the destruction of a madrasa and adjacent mosque, resulting in at least two fatalities and over 100 injuries.
Ghosalkar was shot in the abdomen and shoulder in the event, which happened at attacker Mauris Noronha’s office in IC Colony, a northern suburb of Borivali (West), as shown on a widely shared video.
The incident, which was broadcast live on Facebook, happened a few days after concerns about the state of law and order in Maharashtra were raised by CCVT footage showing a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA opening fire inside a police station in the adjacent Thane district.
Abhishek (40) was a former corporator and the son of former MLA Vinod Ghosalkar, who was a devoted member of the party led by Uddhav Thackeray.
In the footage, Ghosalkar is shown being shot in the abdomen and shoulder while speaking with a local activist named Noronha live on Facebook. The video also has the sounds from three additional shootings.
According to a top police source who spoke with PTI, Ghosalkar was shot four times. He further said that Noronha, who committed the act with an illegal handgun, subsequently shot himself once.
Another police officer stated that although Ghosalkar and Noronha had “personal enmity,” the Facebook live was set up to make it clear that they had reconciled and ended their animosity for the sake of the IC Colony neighbourhood.
The incident happened a few days after a BJP MLA was seen on tape shooting at a representative of the Eknath Shinde faction inside an Ulhasnagar police station.
A inquiry into the most recent fire event, according to Chief Minister Shinde, is underway.
In a post on X, Shiv Sena-UBT MP Sanjay Raut claimed that Shinde had urged Noronha to join the Shinde-led Shiv Sena after they met four days prior at the chief minister’s official house in Mumbai, “Varsha.”
Additionally, Raut called for the resignation of Home Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Aaditya Thackeray, the former minister, asserted that there was no longer a fear of the law in Maharashtra, claiming to have seen Abhishek Ghosalkar earlier in the evening.
“There is total collapse of law and order in Maharashtra, as evident from this and similar recent shooting incidents,” he stated.
A huge number of Sena members headed by Thackeray gathered outside Karuna Hospital in north Mumbai, the hospital where Abhishek Ghosalkar was being treated.
A strong police presence was in the vicinity of Noronha’s office. Per an official, senior authorities were there and the procedure of ‘panchnama’, or spot inspection, was under progress.
