NAVI MUMBAI: The Navi Mumbai police have arrested the independent candidate who had assaulted the son of a former BJP corporator on the polling day of the November 20 assembly elections.

Koparkhairane police have arrested Ankush Kadam and one of his party workers Sagar Pawge and are looking for Kadam’s driver Vishal, Amit Bhoite, Prashant Misal, Sanket and others.

On November 20, the candidate along with a crowd of party workers associated with the Maharashtra Swarajya Party gathered at the booth set up by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to help voters in Airoli constituency.

Also present at the stand was Rohit Shankar More, elder son of BJP corporator Shankar More, who is also the plaintiff in the case. The crowd initially engaged in a verbal altercation with More, but the matter quickly escalated into a fist fight. Jayesh More, the second son of the former corporator, sustained serious injuries after being repeatedly assaulted by the mob. He was admitted to the intensive care unit of a local hospital and is said to have suffered multiple fractures.

“My younger son had come to the stand with lunch when the independent candidate recognized him and assaulted him. The intention of the candidate was to create fear in the minds of the voters and it succeeded because after the attack, the voter turnout went down,” said Shankar More, father of the injured.

He alleged that the candidate and his party workers were involved in similar incidents in Ghansoli village. “This is the first time that an independent candidate is fighting for the post of MP through violence and terror,” More added.

Police said they are going through the CCTV footage to establish the role of each person involved in the attack on the BJP leader’s son.